The Widnes Wild Women have announced their coaching team
in preparation for the new 2026/27 WNIHL season.
Leen de Decker
(Photo by Paul Breeze)
Steve Furber returns as Head Coach supported by Leen De Decker and Suzie Miller as Player / Coaches.
It is the same coaching group that oversaw the Wild Women’s successful Division 2 North title winning campaign in 2024/25 and then enjoy their best season since 2017 in the higher Division 1 North (previously known as the “Women’s Premier League”) last season after being promoted.
De Decker’s presence as a player on the ice will be crucial in the new season as she is the club’s all-time highest points scorer with 112 goals and 48 assists in 108 games. She was one of the founder members of the Wild Women when the former Manchester Phoenix team moved en-bloc to Widnes from nearby Altrincham in the summer of 2015.
She had previously played 8 seasons for Kingston Diamonds before arriving at Widnes via Manchester. She was, until recently, the most capped player for her native Belgium with 52 World Championship games under her belt, along with 3 WC bronze medals and 1 silver medal.
Two more of the Wild Women “originals” have also re-signed for this season.
Netminder Stephanie Drinkwater holds the club record for appearances with 123 over the eleven years of the Wild Women’s history – but only 10 seasons as there was no competition in the 2020/21 season due to Covid closures.
Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke is a highly experienced attacker turned defender who won 5 league titles with the Sunderland Scorpions in her native north east and then spent 9 seasons playing with the Flintshire Furies at Deeside and Phoenix at Altrincham before the move to Widnes.
In an impressive career to date, Vanessa has played some 400 competitive games in total, including 84 for Widnes.
Drinkwater, Crickmore-Clarke and de Decker were all key members of the Widnes team that won league titles in 2019/20 and 2024/25.
The Wild Women will be playing in WNIHL Division 1 North again this season and have been holding player trials at their weekly training sessions. They are always keen to hear from prospective new squad members and players with higher league or international experience are especially welcome.
Anybody
interested is asked to contact the team via Facebook or by email to widneswildwomen@gmail.com
