Wheeler will lead the Bulldogs during next year's Central Victoria Football League Women's season and is taking over the role from Ricky Crotty.

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Wheeler has identified three key areas to ensure the team continues to grow.

"Fitness is a crucial part of our game that we want to improve so that we're more consistent throughout games and not losing wind half-way through a match," Wheeler said.

"We're also having a massive drive with recruitment which so far has received a fantastic response.

"We have several juniors returning and a number of girls that have come on board from Melbourne - our numbers are looking really solid for 2023."

The final area is the one which Wheeler believes is the more important - club culture.

"We are more of a family than a team," she said.

"We have a strong culture at North as it is something we've been working hard to develop during the past two seasons.

"I'd happily lose every game to keep the culture that we have as opposed to winning games while being around people who aren't easy to get along with.

"Our culture is what we pride ourselves on."

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Wheeler has years of experience as a coach and also within AFL sports development.

She spent many years on the footy field as a junior and is part of a family that truly loves football.

Her father works within the AFL, while her step mum Kylie Watson-Wheeler is the current president of the Western Bulldogs.

"We're all heavily involved with footy," Wheeler said.

After a tough past few seasons, Wheeler's overall hope is that all involved are passionate about the game and share the team's values.

"My players can call me anytime as I will always be there for them," she said.

"I don't want anyone to have their head down during a game or at training, we're about positive vibes.

"It might take a few years to get to where we want to be, I am aware of that, but it's important that we're all happy along the way."

The team is well underway with pre-season, and as mentioned earlier, fitness has so far been a key component of their training.

North Bendigo finished the 2022 CVFLW season with a 1-12 record in eighth position on the ladder.

The team's only win during the season came in round 15 when they defeated the Kerang Blues.

The 68-point 8.21 (69) over 0.1 (1) victory on their home ground at Atkins Street came as a confidence-booster for the squad after what had been a challenging year on the football field.

Castlemaine Magpies wrapped up their debut season in the competition with a stunning premiership triumph.

In front of a packed crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Oval, Castlemaine got the better of Golden Square by 19 points, 5.8 (38) over 2.7 (19).

Related: Castlemaine caps off dream season with CVFLW premiership triumph

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