sport, local-sport,

TEIGAN Collister is making a habit of exceeding expectations. Now the 19-year-old wants to be a key player for Newcastle as they try to do exactly that this season. Last campaign, Newcastle coach Craig Deans gave the raw talent from Sydney a chance in the W-League after spotting her in the NSW NPL women's competition. Collister featured 11 times and scored two goals for the Jets, who lost key players to injury through the season. With most of those internationals now gone altogether from a cut-price roster, Collister has emerged as an attacking weapon with a second wonder strike. After scoring a goal of the round against Western Sydney Wanderers in a 4-1 Jets win to end last season, Collister repeated the dose in a 1-1 draw with Melbourne City to open this campaign last Sunday at No.2 Sportsground. Her shot from outside the 18-yard box in the 67th minute gave Newcastle the equaliser and a point against the star-studded City. "It was so exciting," Collister said. "I wasn't expecting it but I feel like as a forward, that's the exciting part of it. "Obviously playing is really amazing, but then when something like that happens in a pretty special game, it's really fun. It makes everything kind of worth it." Collister was just happy to get on the pitch last season. This summer, she is aiming to start every week. "Last year I played a lot more time than I was expecting, which was amazing," she said ahead of Friday's away clash with Wanderers. "I felt really grateful for Deansy for my chance to step up in a new team and in my first season of W-League. So for the second season, my goal I guess is to cement my spot in the starting 11 every week and do whatever's possible to stay in the team." She said the draw felt like a win for the squad but their focus this week was staying grounded for the test against Wanderers, who started with a 2-1 victory over Adelaide. "There had been a lot of talk surrounding the team and everything but as a collective we all decided to just not take too much notice of it, because you never know what's going to happen and we proved that on the weekend," she said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/ChN2GeGbsrYvYqhWaZEXS7/22c9774b-49f3-4d5a-b7fb-d463f43939a2.JPG/r452_526_4274_2685_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg