World Footy News

The eight AFLW clubs last night announced their teams for the first round of their historic competition that will kick off tonight. Melbourne Football Club named Irish woman Laura Duryea (nee Corrigan) on the Interchange bench.

As Laura Corrigan she was the 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).

Laura is originally from Cavan in Ireland and 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. Now after 8 years of playing amateur footy in Melbourne she is a professional footballer.

Duryea will wear the number 11 Melbourne guernsey that her countryman Jimmy Stynes made famous in his miraculous journey from the amateur Gaelic football game to the men's professional Australian game. Just as his story has inspired dozens of other Irish players to follow his footsteps it is likely that professionalism will attract some of the highly skilled women of Ireland to make it in the future.

See the selected sides below for Sunday's clash.  If the team lists look a bit odd it will be the lack of wings, with the competition running a 16-a-side format with six interchange.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Melbourne v Brisbane Lions, Casey Fields, 5.05pm AEDT

MELBOURNE
B: K.Smith 13, M.Clifford 44, C.Phillips 35
HB: M.Downie 2, D.Pearce 6, M.Hickey 18
C: H.Cordner 21
HF: S.Scott 20, E.O'Dea 5, J.Grierson 19
F: A.Newman 16, J.Anderson 28, L.Mithen 14
FOLL: L.Pearce 15, K.Paxman 4, D.Berry 7
INT: E.Humphries 3, S.Jolly 10, L.Duryea 11, S.De Bortoli 23, M.Boyd 25, A.Kemp 36
Emergencies: S.Lampard 8, A.Mifsud 9

BRISBANE LIONS
B: S.Virgo 5, S.Campbell 20, L.Kaslar 11
HB: T.Randall 16, K.Lutkins 13, B.Koenen 3
C: M.Hunt 6
HF: S.Frederick-Traub 14, K.Ashmore 10, K.McCarthy 9
F: S.Law 2, T.Harris 7, J.Weutschner 23
FOLL: S.Webb 4, E.Bates 1, E.Zielke 8
INT: N.Wallace 24, J.Stanton 17, N.Hildebrand 22, S.Goodman 19, B.Gibson 25, A.Anderson 18, J.Ransfield 15, K.Deegan 12*
*Emergencies: To be named on Friday

Tonight will see the debut match at Princes Park in Carlton where a big crowd is expected to see the league kick off.  Former Wimbledon Hawks ruckman Kate Shierlaw has been named as an emergency for this match.  Sadly for International footy fans Kendra Heil from Canada won't be playing for her Collingwood team this year as she injured her knee in the preseason, but continues limited training with the club..

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Carlton v Collingwood, Ikon Park, 7.45pm AEDT

CARLTON
B: L.Brazzale 12, D.Hardiman 31, S.Last 7
HB: S.Hosking 10, K.Gillespie-Jones 5, D.Vescio 3
C: N.Plane 32
HF: L.Attard 14, I.Ayre 22, L.Arnell 13
F: S.Audley 26, B.Davey 1, K.Loynes 2
FOLL: B.Moody 16, A.Downie 30, M.Keryk 4
INT: N.Exon 15, T.Lucas-Rodd 18, J.Kennedy 23, A.Brown 27, B.Jakobsson 35, G.Pound 6
Emergencies: K.Darby 8, K.Shierlaw 25

COLLINGWOOD
B: C.Edwards 1, M.Hutchins 25, S.Livingstone, 12
HB: S.Chiocci 17, N.Stevens 21, C.McIntosh 20
C: L.Tesoriero 7
HF: A.Eva 2, J.Garner 43, S.D'Arcy 4
F: E.Grant 5, M.Hope 23, J.Cameron 27
FOLL: E.King 60, A.Barden 38, B.Bonnici 8
INT: B.White 33, T.Morgan 26, C.Bernardi 6, S.Casey 22, R.Schleicher 18, H.Roden 11
Emergencies: P.Cula-Reid 3, M.Kuys 9

The selected sides for the remaining Round 1 matches are;

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Adelaide v Greater Western Sydney, Thebarton Oval, 4.35pm ACDT

ADELAIDE
B: S.Allan 39, T.Radan 6, S.Riley 8
HB: D.Varnhagen 9, A.Hatchard 33, S.Thompson 14
C: C.Cramey 22
HF: E.Marinoff 10, A.Foley 3, K.Gibson 2
F: J.Sedunary 17, R.Metcalfe 11, R.Killian 7
FOLL: S.Perkins 28, E.Phillips 13, C.Randall 26
INT: H.Anderson 19, J.Mules 23. T.Thorn 15, M.Hollick 18, D.Cox 31, G.Bevan 4
Emergencies: A.Holmes 1, S.Armistead 16

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
B: A.Saundry 4, K.De Pellegrini 9, M.Collier 14
HB: A.Farrugia 18, R.Tomkins 1, A.Williams 20
C: E.Swanson 17
HF: R.Beeson 6, P.McWilliams 3, A.Schmidt 11
F: K.Stanton 33, J.Barclay 34, A.Guest 19
FOLL: C.Lawton 41, B.Tully 16, J.Dal Pos 7
INT: N.Barr 8, E.Ross 15, E.McKinnon 23, H.Wallett 13, J.Bibby 22, C.Briggs 31
Emergencies: H.Dunn 24, L.Steane 25*
*Please note the Giants have required an injury replacement player to complete their emergency list. This player is Lisa Steane.

 Western Bulldogs v Fremantle, VU Whitten Oval, 7.40pm AEDT

WESTERN BULLDOGS
B: H.Wildes 17, R.Neaves 25, H.Scott 22
HB: N.Callinan 10, A.O'Connor 4, B.Hunt 21
C: J.Lambert 7
HF: B.Lochland 1, K.Brennan 3, K.McLeod 6
F: K.Tyndall 8, E.Gamble 14, A.Gogos 36
FOLL: L.Spark 11, E.Kearney 5, E.Blackburn 2
INT: K.Lamb 27, J.Gardner 33, L.Birch 18, T.Ernst 19, L.Williams 9, L.Bailey 13
Emergencies: M.McDonald 15, C.Clarkson 24

FREMANTLE
B: B.Smith 18, T.Bresland 5, A.Sharp 1
HB: T.Haynes 6, H.Miller 19, S.Cain 20,
C: K.Donnellan 15
HF: C.Davidson 33, D.Hooker 17, L.Filocamo 4
F: E.Antonio 12, A.Lavell 7, B.Green 3
FOLL: G.Houghton 27, K.Bentley 23, M.Caulfield 24
INT: G.O’Sullivan 22, D.Okely 16, T.Golisano 11, A.Makur Chuot 14, S.Barr 10, T.Angel 9
Emergencies: T.Priestly 8, B.Devlyn 26