Collingwood fans searching for some familiar faces for the Magpies’ rebel VFLW season opener against Southern Saints at RSEA Park tomorrow night will be hard pressed to find any.
Simply because there aren’t any.
Amazingly the entire 21 players who took the field in last year’s 12-point Grand Final loss to Port Melbourne will not be there when the Magpies take the field, having all headed to other clubs during the off-season.
Marnie Jarvis, who played the first 10 matches last year before succumbing to injury, is the only player still on Collingwood’s rebel VFLW list, while AFLW-listed youngster Charlotte Taylor, who arrived with pick 30 in 2022, is the only other player named for the season opener who was at the club nine months ago.
Jarvis has been named on the wing and Taylor at half-back as the Magpies unveil a completely new outfit for a game where women’s footy takes centre stage by playing after a Smithy’s VFL curtain-raiser between their men’s team and Sandringham.
But that doesn’t mean the Magpies won’t still put out a strong team, with joint Lambert-Pearce medallist Akayla Peterson crossing from Box Hill Hawks and AFLW draftees Lucy Cronin (pick 9, 2023) and Amber Schutte (pick 32, 2023) to make their VFL debuts and 2022 pick 30 Charlotte Taylor to play her first game since a trio of appearances in 2022.
They also have Charli Granville and Lilly Pearce straight off AFLW lists and a host of others with VFLW experience in their 20 recruits, including ex-Saint Jemma Ramsdale.
Southern Saints, for their part, will have three former Collingwood players in their line-up, including Eva Nikolitsas and Georgia Ricardo, who were named second and third best in the Grand Final, with Ricardo returning for her second stint in red, white and black.
They are among eight recruits selected for Round 1, with Chloe Saultry back from a year off after playing 15 games in the 2022 grand final season, while four St Kilda AFLW players will take the field in Nat Plane, Darcy Guttridge, Caitlin Matthews and Ella Friend, plus Deanna Jolliffe, who remains at the club despite losing her list spot.
All matches in the 2024 rebel VFLW season will be live streamed free via the AFL website, AFL Live Official App and VFL App.
SOUTHERN SAINTS vs COLLINGWOOD
Friday 22 March, 7:05pm, RSEA Park
Head-to-head: Collingwood 5-3; At RSEA Park: Southern Saints 1-0; Streak: Southern Saints
Last time: Southern Saints 2.6 18 def Collingwood 1.7 13 (May 20, 2023, Victoria Park)
SOUTHERN SAINTS
B: N. Plane (38), B. Enno (26)
HB: C. Matthews (36), T. Boyd (21), G. Ricardo (44)
C: W. Laing (9), E. Nikolitsis (17), T. Kearns (23)
HF: M. Stobie (48), A. Penry (32), D. Guttridge (50)
F: D. Jolliffe (4), C. Hunt (29)
R: M. Torpey (28), A. Tregellis (12), A. Hynes (16)
INT: C. Saultry (6), C. Ryan (5), G. Hodder (7), P. Phelan (27), E. Friend (43)
EMG: C. Aughtie (31), A. Russell (14), K. Henry (22), Z. McCurdy (11)
NEW: Chloe Hunt (Eastern Devils), Eva Nikolitsas (Collingwood VFLW), Ahlee Penry (Phillip Island/Gippsland Power), Piper Phelan (Palm Beach-Currumbin/Bond University/Gold Coast Academy), Georgia Ricardo (Collingwood VFLW), Chloe Saultry (St Bedes-Mentone), Maiya Stobie (Old Scotch/Oakleigh Chargers), Maddi Torpey (Mordialloc-Braeside/Sandringham Dragons).
COLLINGWOOD
B: K. Lennox (47), N. Watts (62)
HB: C. Taylor (11), L. Cronin (27), A. Schutte (32)
C: M. Jarvis (48), M. Ryan (44), H. Dyson (59)
HF: C. Granville (42), A. Campbell (39), R. Grant (53)
F: M. Freeman (45), S. Degiacomi (65)
R: L. Pearce (41), F. Walsh (54), S. Ingram (38)
INT: J. Ramsdale (51), A. Peterson (52), C. Remmos (40), H. Fosbrooke (64), G. Osborne (66)
EMG: M. Molenberg (37), K. Tyquin (49), M. Maroney (57), A. Francese (60)
NEW: Ava Campbell (Vermont/Eastern Ranges/Box Hill Hawks), Lucy Cronin (Kew Comets/Oakleigh Chargers), Sachi DeGiacomi (Geelong VFLW), Hannah Dyson (Eastern Devils), Hannah Fosbrooke (Box Hill Hawks), Melanie Freeman (Western Bulldogs VFLW), Rebecca Grant (Collegians), Charli Granville (North Melbourne AFLW), Sarah Ingram (Southport/PINT), Kasey Lennox (Carlton VFLW), Grace Osborne (Kew), Lilly Pearce (Richmond), Akayla Peterson (Box Hill Hawks), Jemma Ramsdale (Southern Saints), Carly Remmos (Southport/PINT), Meg Ryan (Essendon VFLW), Amber Schutte (Traralgon/Gippsland Power), Frances Walsh (Melbourne University), Nikki Watts (Heidelberg)
