Sarah Black has written this excellent article on the www.afl.com.au website that looks at some of the motivations many women have had to embrace Australian Rules football. He article provides excellent snapshots through the eyes of women now playing – or about to play – in the AFLW, and as such is a great story of inspiration for future players.

THE NAB AFL Women's competition has allowed players from a variety of backgrounds to play at the highest level.

It has also opened the door for a host of internationals and locals who have spent time overseas to try to break through. 

 

Greater Western Sydney forward Cora Staunton and former Melbourne defender Laura Duryea, both Irish, picked up the game in Australia, while Australian-born pair Lauren Spark (Western Bulldogs defender) and Kate Shierlaw (ex-Carlton forward) played for the Wimbledon Hawks while living in London.

Back in 2013 I wrote an article which promoted the value and merit of school footy (see School Footy – the Aussie Rules Nursery). The article considered how important the school footy nursery was to club football. However, it also considered many of the challenges faced by schools and clubs in keeping numbers sustainable. Another factor considered was the devaluation of school footy inasmuch as some sectors did not recognise the value of school football adequately.

Much has changed since 2013, and school football has risen to greater heights – at least in my experience. The increase in women’s and youth girl’s football has contributed to this.

Our own Pyramid Power girls in Cairns have taken the link between school football and club football to an unusual, but potentially game-changing place.

NTFL Press Release:

The 2018/19 TIO NTFL season will start with a bang when defending premiers Southern Districts play a grand final rematch against the Darwin Buffaloes on the first Saturday night of the season.

This is just part of an exciting TIO NTFL Men’s Premier League season that was announced with the fixture release by AFL Northern Territory (AFLNT) today.

The season will kick off on Friday 5 October and is scheduled to culminate with the grand final on Saturday 16 March 2019.

This year the AFLNT Football Operations team worked in collaboration with clubs, with each club given an opportunity to have input and share feedback on last year’s fixture and also put forward key club priorities for the upcoming season.

Irishwoman Aoife O’Gorman (previously known as Aoife Murphy) played Gaelic Football (GAA) and Hurling through school, university and beyond.

She played GAA against AFLW GWS Giants star Cora Staunton in the late 1990s back in Ireland in a number of high-profile matches for their counties.

“We won some big games and lost some; it’s a bit mad to see her playing at the top level out here in footy”, O’Gorman said of her time with County Waterford.

 

Sarah Black reports on the www.afl.com.au website that the Western Bulldogs are casting a recruiting net globally in a bid to develop their own list, and by extension women’s football. There are also positive ramifications for women across the world who may find their way onto an AFLW list. Whilst the Bulldogs’ initiative is looking for just one rookie spot, the concept will be looked at by all clubs, and especially those yet to be granted places in the AFLW as they look to grow future lists.

AFL Women's premiers the Western Bulldogs are casting their net around the world in the hunt for a rookie to add to their list for the 2019 season. 

The Bulldogs have partnered with international AFL bodies such as AFL England, AFL Ireland Women's, AFL Europe and AFL Canada to promote its international rookie program 'CrossCoders'. 

The definition of an AFLW rookie has changed from season to season, but for 2019, an AFLW rookie would not have played Australian football in the past three years or been involved in an AFLW high-performance program.

It is only a few more months before the new NTFL season gets underway in Darwin. However, the Territory is abuzz with the prospect that the retired Hawthorn great, Cyril Rioli will line up for a club he is poud of –St Marys – for the looming 2018/19 season. The following story from Marc McGowan at the www.afl.com.au  website looks at the likely event and frames Rioli within a pantheon of great footballers from the Northern Territory who have graced the game. 

RETIRED superstar Cyril Rioli's first stop in the AFL after-life will be to visit his father in Alice Springs before honouring him by wearing his No.1 for St Mary's.  

Rioli's dad suffered a near-fatal heart attack in Grand Final week last year and required surgery, the first and most critical in a series of events that caused the brilliant Hawk to call it quits this week.

Back in 1987 when legendary Richmond midfielder (called a centreman back then), Maurice Rioli retired, he left a hole in football. He raised the bar on what indigenous footballers could bring to our game and many wondered if we would ever see his ilk again. Then in 2008 Cyril Rioli arrived. No one can absolutely measure who was better - uncle or nephew - but Cyril lit up the game in ways reminiscent of Maurice - maybe not in style, but certainly in impact. Cyril's announcement yesterday to retire as a Hawthorn player and AFL great brings to an end another great Rioli career - though it will not surprise to see the id from the Tiwi Islands return to the NTFL with his former club - the "Green Machine", St Mary's.

Here is a video clip from the AFL showing the top ten highlights of Cyril Rioli's wonderful career.

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Prologue: It was 2009 and a nine year old girl, Elisha King, was playing for Hambledon State School in their first ever girl’s carnival. Almost three years younger than most of the other girls on the field, Elisha had to be given special consideration to be allowed to play. Thankfully, she was allowed and was by far the best Hambo girl on the field, with three goals on the day, as the team finished runners-up to St Joseph’s school by a solitary point. 

It was the start of my own three-year period of coaching Elisha in school teams, but more significantly, it was another step on a journey that has seen Elisha selected by the North Melbourne Kangaroos AFLW team. The girl who promised so much back when women’s and girls’ footy barely existed has made it to the highest level of the game – and that makes a great story. 

Jodi King is one proud mum. It is almost certain that without incredible family support, Elisha would most likely not have made it this far. According to Jodi, “Elisha’s journey has been very long. She started at the age of six with Auskick.  [Elisha’s early footy saw her] playing alongside [older brother] Hayden and watching [older brother again] Aaron play.  At the age of nine, Elisha also got involved in basketball and hockey. It was very hard for Elisha to stay with footy and she was making rep teams in both hockey and footy.”

Back in 2012, World Footy News interviewed four indigenous teenagers about their football journey and where they might want to be one day (see From Paradise To The Pinnacle Of Success). With the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round of AFL football to take place this weekend across Australia – at grassroots level and the highest in the and – one of those young men looks back at his journey: in football and life, through indigenous eyes.

Josh Kyle now lives and plays footy in Melbourne – seemingly a million miles away from his spiritual and geographical home. His journey has been fascinating, yet it is one that many young indigenous players take to live a dream, and many more want to.

He is a born and bred Cairns boy, from Far North Queensland, first playing Australian football for Pyramid Power in the AFL Cairns competition and being a part of their Under 16 premiership team in 2013. But there is a strong sense that his journey could yet take him further than he ever dreamed.

With the commencement of the AFL's Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round this weekend, the following videos provide the perfect opportunity to be "standing together to celebrate indigenous excellence" - the binding statement that sums up the identity of the round.

This first video looks at highlights from some of the greatest indigenous footballers to have ever played the game. As a highlights reel, it is an absolute showcase of what makes our game so special. The second video looks at one of the legendary indigenous footballers in Graham "Polly" Farmer, who changed the game forever and forged a path for future indigenous footballers to follow.

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