GEELONG Falcons Female talent coordinator Katie Geerings gives her thoughts on the club’s upcoming U18 girls season.
2018 FINISH: Premiers (10-0 record)
2018 TAC CUP GIRLS BEST AND FAIREST: Nina Morrison
2018 CLUB BEST AND FAIREST: Olivia Purcell
2018 TEAM OF THE YEAR SELECTIONS: Jason Armistead (Coach), Lucy McEvoy, Nina Morrison, Olivia Purcell, Denby Taylor
2018 AFL WOMEN’S DRAFTEES: Nina Morrison (Geelong), Olivia Purcell (Geelong), Denby Taylor (Geelong)
2019 AFLW ACADEMY: Level 2 (18yo): Lucy McEvoy
2019 HEAD COACH: Jason Armistead
2019 SEASON START: vs Sandringham Dragons @ SkyBus Stadium, Sunday March 3
TOP 2019 AFLW DRAFT PROSPECT
Lucy McEvoy (local club – St Mary’s): "Lucy is an amazing person on and off the field. She's a great leader, so humble and always inclusive of everyone at the club. She’s been training really hard and she looks really good. She can play up forward and down back, so I reckon there’ll be no set role for her this year and she’ll just play wherever she’s needed."
POTENTIAL DRAFT SURPRISE PACKET
Paige Sheppard (Geelong West Giants): "Paige will be an onballer this year because we’ve lost most of our onballers from last year. She’s always had her older sister Mia in the program and sort of sat in her shadow a little bit, but Mia finished last year and Paige is starting to come out of her shell. She’s a skilful, clever player with some fancy little tricks."
17yo PLAYERS TO WATCH
Zoe Garth (St Joseph’s): "I went to watch a school footy game last year and thought: 'Who is that girl on the wing?' It was Zoe and she was playing her first ever game of footy – and she was the best on ground by far. She was a state basketballer but has quit the sport and she’s loving football. Her training is amazing and it’ll be really interesting to see how she goes."
Darcy Moloney (Colac Imperials): "Darcy only played her first year of footy last year. She reminds me a lot of Lucy McEvoy personality-wise; she’s a great girl who’s willing to give anything a go. She’s really versatile and you can move her around the ground a bit. I think she’s going to develop really quickly playing at a higher level."
Stephanie Williams (St Joseph’s/Darwin Buffettes): "Steph is indigenous and she’s from the Northern Territory. She came in halfway through last season and played a couple of games with us. She’s strong up forward and has some flair in her game, so she’s going to be really great to watch."
LEADERSHIP MATERIAL
"Lucy McEvoy has captained the team for the last two seasons and will do so again, with Abbey Chapman (18yo in 2019, Geelong West Giants) as her deputy and Kaitlyn Haustorfer (18yo, Lara), Luka Lesosky-Hay (18yo, Torquay), Paige Sheppard (see above) and Renee Tierney (17yo, Blackburn) also in the leadership group."
FAMOUS FOOTBALL RELATIONS
Lucy McEvoy: Cousin of current AFL player Ben McEvoy – 91 games for St Kilda/96 for Hawthorn.
Laura Gardiner (17yo, Geelong West Giants): Cousin of current AFL player Darcy Gardiner – 82 games for Brisbane.
TEAM STRENGTHS
"The girls had a really intense running program over Christmas and I think they’re looking really fit and athletic. Our running has always been one of our strengths and I think that will continue. I also think our skills and decision-making are now really starting to clean up as well, with some good coaches helping us out."
