World Footy News

It was very disappointing for international footy followers at the end of the AFL Women's draft when no international players (by IC rules at least) were selected. Kate Shierlaw and Lauren Spark were on the lists which was some vindication of the footy played in London, but they were still Aussie women.

So it would come down to the free agency period, and fortunately there would be an international foot in the door.  Firstly Collingwood added Canadian Kendra Heil to their list.  Perhaps missing out on the draft as she missed most of the 2016 season due to a serious ACL injury, Heil was also close to being drafted in 2015 (when there were just the two women's teams for the exhibition match). 

Heil is a bona-fide Canadian national who learnt the game in Canada.  Heil played for Canada in the 2014 AFL International Cup and was named in the World Team at the end of the tournament.  She played mostly up forward in the tournament and kicked two goals in her nations winning Grand Final team and was named in the best players.  In 2015 she returned to Australia to further her game playing with the Eastern Devils in the VWFL.

Also in the free agency period Melbourne would add Laura Corrigan (pictured) to their list.  Ireland had their own representative on board and Corrigan will be the first female professional Aussie rules footballer from Ireland. Corrigan, is originally from Cavan and (as far as we know) learnt the game in Australia after moving here about 8 years ago.   She has played for Diamond Creek in the VWFL (and more recently VFL Womens) for the past seven seasons playing mostly in the ruck or in defence. 

Corrigan was named full back in the World Team at the 2011 International Cup where she was dominant for the tournament champions Ireland and named joint best player of the 2014 International Cup tournament (along with Canada’s Aimee Legault who is currently back in Canada).

Corrigan is known to be hard at the contest.  In the 2011 International Cup she left one match in the first quarter after splitting her head open and was sent off in the 2014 International Cup grand final after taking the Canadian captain high. She told us in 2014 that she took the game up because "I had always been told I was too rough in Gaelic so I thought Aussie Rules was the game for me."

Tonight both players who lined up against each other at Punt Road in the International Cup Grand Final will train with their new club's full teams for the first time in open sessions in Melbourne.  Hopefully come Round 1 of the AFL Women's league in February 2017 both players will have the eyes of the football world on them as they debut. 

And hopefully they are the international foot in the door of this new league, with the rest of the world's best women from outside Australia coming to Melbourne in August.  Having the AFL Women's league recruit international women who have never played with Australian clubs will be the next big step for women's footy outside Australia.