AFLW - GC SUNS licence approved for 2020 #GetSet

[robo_1]

Rising Gold Coast Suns forward Kalinda Howarth has been voted by the fans as the Round 6 AFLW MVP of the Week.

Rising Suns gun delivers

Rising Gold Coast Suns forward Kalinda Howarth has been voted by the fans as the Round 6 AFLW MVP of the Week. The 20-year-old kicked four goals and collected 11 touches as the Suns clinched their…

www.aflplayers.com.au

 

[Choppers]

Rising Gold Coast Suns forward Kalinda Howarth has been voted by the fans as the Round 6 AFLW MVP of the Week.

Rising Suns gun delivers

Rising Gold Coast Suns forward Kalinda Howarth has been voted by the fans as the Round 6 AFLW MVP of the Week. The 20-year-old kicked four goals and collected 11 touches as the Suns clinched their…

www.aflplayers.com.au

Thoroughly deserved......

 

[AuTo00Z]

Congrats guys. You were easily the best of the expansion teams and were unlucky to placed to put in the stronger conference. Would've been very stiff to miss finals. Good luck.

 

[robo_1]

Mr Bods girl Maddy Roberts torn calf

 

[Mini GF]

Mr Bods girl Maddy Roberts torn calf

must have done it playing for Cooly

 

[GC2015]

I've moved on from last night's result and can have some thoughts going forward. In retrospect, it was a great season where we proved a lot of people wrong. We have some exciting young players who will really benefit from playing a full season + a final this year. In terms of our experienced players, they were all pretty good this year with the exception of Virgo. I think Virgo might be done unfortunately.

Five SUNS named in 2020 NAB AFL Women’s Academy

Five female Gold Coast SUNS Academy players have been named in the 2020 NAB AFL Women’s Academy squad to accelerate their development over the next 12 months.

www.goldcoastfc.com.au

As you can see in the link above, four of our draft eligible players were named in the national academy for this year - Annise Bradfield (Southport), Daisy D'Arcy (Townsville), Maddison Levi (Bond University) and Stephanie Williams (Darwin). We have high quality talent coming through the draft again this year so we should get a good injection of talented youth leading into the 2021 season.

 

[The Victorian]

Slept on the result and whilst it was disappointing, Fremantle are undefeated for a reason. The way they have the ability to rebound from defensive 50 with pace to score is incredible and something our girls should look to try and achieve in 2021.

Some things that maybe we need to improve in or target in the offseason.
* A Key forward (Kalinda is great but as a small she is disadvantaged)
* We need to not much around with the footy a lot trying to kick goals
* Work on clean handling of the football
* Taking advantage from the inside 50s

Things that were great this season
*Our hunger and endeavour!
*Tackling was first class this season
*The enthusiasm from the girls. It looks like we have built such a great culture!
* The girls in defence did a great job this season. well done!

Players that shone:
Kalinda Howarth (Young Gun!!! Hopefully
Lauren Bella
Jade Pregelj
Lauren Aherns
Jamie Stanton (Courageous!)

Players that need to work on things:
Virgo (she must be a very good leader off the field to continue to get her game time)

I was looking forward to seeing Kitara Whap-Farrah out there unfortunately sidelined with injury

Finals in year 1! Great effort and I have loved seeing the girls play the way they have!! I cannot wait to see how far we can improve next season!

 

[GC2015]

A little more info on our 2020 draft eligible academy girls...

Bradfield overcomes setbacks to run into state side

FORMER field hockey player, Annise Bradfield heeded her neighbour’s advice to take up Australian rules football and has never looked back. The talented 172cm player managed a couple of games at last year’s AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships in her bottom-age year, having overcome plenty in her short career.

“I started my footy journey when I was 12,” Bradfield said. “My neighbour was the president of a footy club so he wanted me to come down and try-out and from there, just trying out for all the teams. “I dropped field hockey, (which) was my other sport and then there’s been a couple of major setbacks in the last couple of years.”

Bradfield said she had “just lost interest” for hockey after playing it for a decade and opted to give it up in search of a fresh challenge. It came in the way of the oblong ball at her local club Southport, but it was far from smooth sailing on her football journey.

“I have dislocated my knee but I also have a problem with my heart, so that’s probably been the major setback for me,” Bradfield said.

Through the help of Southport then the Gold Coast SUNS Academy, Bradfield grew through the pathway to represent Queensland at the championships. She was also named in the AFL Women’s Academy as a bottom-age prospect last year – the only one from the SUNS Academy and one of two from the entire state to achieve the feat. She said it was difficult at times with her setbacks but it made her return to the football field all the more special.

“It’s really good (to play for Queensland), it’s hard obviously watching from the sideline a lot so it gives you heaps of encouragement,” Bradfield said. “When you get back out there it’s just an awesome feeling, just the atmosphere around everyone and then when they all get behind you it’s really good.”

Bradfield’s run and carry and her decision making in the forward half of the ground is what separates her from a lot of other players. Her inspiration is Richmond’s Katie Brennan with the skipper’s setbacks giving Bradfield hope throughout her footballing journey. The next step for the Queenslander is to continue developing her skills and set shots, and becoming more proactive rather than reactive, with her football.

Playing at the elite journey level is far from easy, and it takes a toll on other aspects of life. Bradfield admitted the skill of juggling her school work with her sporting commitments was difficult at times, but she was finding a nice balance.

“It is tough,” Bradfield said. “But you kind of just do what you have to do, all the teachers and everything are really supportive and all the coaches understand if you need to bring school work with you so it all works out pretty well.”

While the commitments include plenty of travel such as commuting to Brisbane twice a week for training when the state side is in action or flying interstate, it is all part of the long-term goal, which will hopefully come to fruition at the end of 2020 for the AFL Women’s National Academy member.

“The main goal is to be drafted and obviously debut but just for now, to keep working through,” Bradfield said.

Levi always learning as she targets elite level

NEW to the Australian rules football code, Queensland talent Maddison Levi has made an impression in a short amount of time. Only a couple of years ago she had never played before, but opted to give the sport a go and has gone from strength to strength since. A member of the AFL Women’s National Academy for 2020, Levi has plenty of upside at 177cm, and will play out her top-age year this year. But football has not always been on the agenda.

“Two years ago our school team was short on numbers for our AFL team and being in the PEex (Physical Education Extension) program I put my hand up just to fill in and started from there,” Levi said. “Then last year I was like ‘I really enjoy this sport’ so then I joined Burleigh Bombers and it’s just taken off from there, to the SUNS Academy and now through to Queensland.”

Levi knew the step up from casually playing for her school to being on track through the elite pathway would be a challenge, but instead of getting ahead of herself, she tried to embrace as much knowledge as she could from more experienced players.

“It’s been a major learning experience,” Levi said at the AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships last year. “There’s a lot of room for improvement and as I’m still a bottom-ager. “Learning from all the older girls has been a massive eye-opener and developer.”

Coming from a rugby background, there were some similarities, but also a number of changes that had to be made to adapt to the new sport, though Levi has made it work.

“I think they both work hand-in-hand,” Levi said. “The tackling from rugby made me a stronger player in AFL. “And the ball skills you need from rugby, but just the kicking and the little finer skills are a bit different.”

The choice to switch from rugby to football was not an easy one, but Levi said she enjoys the ability to run off and take the game on, with greater freedom from game-to-game. Her attack on the football is one of her self-proclaimed strengths, while the fine turning of that skill transition from rugby to football is still an area of improvement for the teenager.

“(My strengths are) attacking the football and my efforts,” Levi said. “I believe I can contribute to the team. “Just the desperation for the football, winning it to get it out. “Definitely kicking (is an improvement), because I came from rugby, kicking has been my biggest area for improvement. “And hands, just refining the finer skills.”

Now heading into her top-age year in 2020, Levi said she was excited for everything that was to come. Speaking at the championships last year, she knew there was time on her side to continue her development, but she would not leave a stone unturned in achieving it.

“That’s my goal (to go as far as I can with footy),” she said. So [2020] gives me a whole other year to improve and get ready for draft season which will be in a year’s time so hopefully, fingers crossed that’s where I’m looking to go.”

Before then, Levi will aim to run out with Queensland again at the AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships and gain greater experience and exposure. In 2019, she averaged 11.5 disposals and five tackles per game showing just why she has been so highly rated in her state.

“It’s a massive opportunity to represent your whole state, a massive experience and definitely an honour,” she said.

Atmosphere the key for rugby player Daisy D'Arcy

COMING from North Queensland, it is no surprise that growing up, Darcy D'Arcy took up rugby. Right in the heartland state of the sport, D’Arcy naturally went into that code. It was not until her mother suggested another code that was ever-growing in Queensland, particularly in the female space.

“I got into AFL two years ago,” D’Arcy said. “Back in Townsville my mum told me about this ‘come and try’ day so I thought I might go over and have a crack because I’ve played rugby before and I wanted to see if it was similar. “I enjoyed the contact side of it, so I went to that and I pretty much fell in love with it from there.”

D’Arcy might have fallen in love with the sport’s technical side, but it was the social atmosphere that kept her around, thriving on both the on-field and off-field benefits of the team sport. D’Arcy said those people you meet along the way are what makes the journey so special.

“Just the people,” she said. “It’s a great atmosphere and the teams, I dunno – when you have a love for a sport it’s pretty obvious, I just enjoyed it.”

Reliability is her self-proclaimed number one strength, while ironically strength is her main focus of improvement in order to provide greater physical support to her teammates on the field.

“My strengths I feel are being reliable,” D’Arcy said. “I feel as if I can get in a position to help support or create something. “Something I’m looking to improve on is my strength, just because I’m not as big a build. Just the strength so I can support my teammates by making either a shepherd or a tackle.”

D’Arcy is one of four top-age Queenslanders in the AFL Women’s National Academy this year, coming off a strong bottom-age year that saw her feature at the AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships. Despite coming into her draft year, D’Arcy still finds the time for both Australian rules and rugby, along with her school commitments.

“I still play both,” D’Arcy said at the championships last year. “But I enjoy them both at an equal level, but there’s just something about AFL that sort of overtakes the factor of rugby.”

The North Queensland teenager admitted there was a fair bit of travelling involved to compete not only in her state, but across the country and it had been a big two years on the road and in the air. But it would not have been possible without the ongoing support of her family.

“My family would be my biggest inspiration because they know I can do better so they push me to my limits and it’s worked out pretty well so I’m thankful for that,” she said.

Now her sights are set on reaching the elite level – AFL Women’s – and while she understands it is a difficult goal to obtain – she is well on her way to making the most out of herself and her football career, at whatever level that may be.

“(My goal is to) hopefully to achieve high things like getting drafted would be amazing but just pushing to try my hardest and make teams like these which is pretty amazing for me,” D’Arcy said.

Amazing to think all three of our girls in the 2020 national academy are latecomers to the game, two of which first played Aussie rules just two years ago and were state representatives in other sports. Maddison Levi in particular was named player of the tournament in Rugby Australia national 7s tournament last year! Levi is obviously a very talented athlete given she was named best on for Bond University in their QAFLW win over UQ two weeks ago and was also named in the bests in their Coolangatta fixture. She's a 178cm midfielder for anyone that's interested and has a younger sister (Teagan) coming through our academy who will be available for the draft next year.

So we definitely have a lot of talent coming through this year. The great thing about having our own women's team is that we can provide a genuine pathway for talented GC and North QLD athletes to play, and more importantly stay in our game.

 

[Jen2310]

wow.

 

[The Victorian]

The 2020 NAB AFL Women's season has been cancelled, with no premiership to be awarded.

 

[Jen2310]

Feel for freo. Undefeated. But this is cruel to the AFLW girls and comp in general.

 

[The Victorian]

SEN posted this which I think is quite unfair on our girls.

End of season AFLW awards and the biggest remaining what if from 2020

League MVP, rising star, most improved, most underrated, best coach and more!

www.sen.com.au

We were without a doubt the best expansion side yet we don’t even get this accolade. Obviously though at STK is Victorian which probably plays a role.
Best expansion side: St Kilda
What St Kilda showed in 2020 was that they are a team to be taken seriously in the next few years.

They didn’t sell the farm for superstar names, they built a core of young, talented players and put leaders around them under the watchful eye of coach Peta Searle.

The first-year players they brought into the system – Caitlin Greiser, Georgia Patrikios, Rosie Dillon, Olivia Vesely, Nicola Xenos, Molly McDonald, Tarni White and more – are all going to be quality players in this competition for a long time to come and will only get better as more talent gets put around them.

They have proven themselves as a team that has its core in place. If they can now lure a star player out of another club to be the final piece of the puzzle, anything is possible for them in 2020 with some injury luck.

They do mention this though which is correct and obviously had a difference over us who travelled the most in the competition.

they even gave the rising star to a girl that debuted three years ago....
Rising Star: Isabel
It might be unfair giving the award to a third-year player, but Isabel Huntington is eligible, got a nomination and deserves recognition for her season.

The number one pick in the 2017 National Draft has had her career cruelly impacted by knee injuries to this point, but she got a clean run at it 2019 and grew as the season went on.

Moving into defence, Huntington became one of the game’s best intercept marking defenders and was ranked second in the competition for marks per game and first for contested marks per game.

Her best remains well and truly in front of her too, whether it’s down back or up forward.




Biggest season ‘what if’?
The biggest unanswerable question (aside from who would have won the flag) is what Conference B would have looked like had the final two rounds been played.

Fremantle fans and players have voiced their displeasure at not being crowned premiers given their 7-0 record, however their two biggest tests went unplayed.

They were set to face Melbourne (in Perth) and Carlton (in Victoria) in the final two weeks of the season, and were coming off a fixture that saw them leave Western Australia twice in six weeks - comfortably the easiest draw in the competition.

The biggest scalp they claimed during the season was against Collingwood in Round 3 in a game where they were outplayed for the majority. Their other wins came against Geelong, West Coast, St Kilda, Brisbane and the Bulldogs

 

[GC2015]

SEN posted this which I think is quite unfair on our girls.

End of season AFLW awards and the biggest remaining what if from 2020

League MVP, rising star, most improved, most underrated, best coach and more!

www.sen.com.au

We were without a doubt the best expansion side yet we don’t even get this accolade. Obviously though at STK is Victorian which probably plays a role.
Best expansion side: St Kilda
What St Kilda showed in 2020 was that they are a team to be taken seriously in the next few years.

They didn’t sell the farm for superstar names, they built a core of young, talented players and put leaders around them under the watchful eye of coach Peta Searle.

The first-year players they brought into the system – Caitlin Greiser, Georgia Patrikios, Rosie Dillon, Olivia Vesely, Nicola Xenos, Molly McDonald, Tarni White and more – are all going to be quality players in this competition for a long time to come and will only get better as more talent gets put around them.

They have proven themselves as a team that has its core in place. If they can now lure a star player out of another club to be the final piece of the puzzle, anything is possible for them in 2020 with some injury luck.

They do mention this though which is correct and obviously had a difference over us who travelled the most in the competition.

they even gave the rising star to a girl that debuted three years ago....
Rising Star: Isabel
It might be unfair giving the award to a third-year player, but Isabel Huntington is eligible, got a nomination and deserves recognition for her season.

The number one pick in the 2017 National Draft has had her career cruelly impacted by knee injuries to this point, but she got a clean run at it 2019 and grew as the season went on.

Moving into defence, Huntington became one of the game’s best intercept marking defenders and was ranked second in the competition for marks per game and first for contested marks per game.

Her best remains well and truly in front of her too, whether it’s down back or up forward.




Biggest season ‘what if’?
The biggest unanswerable question (aside from who would have won the flag) is what Conference B would have looked like had the final two rounds been played.

Fremantle fans and players have voiced their displeasure at not being crowned premiers given their 7-0 record, however their two biggest tests went unplayed.

They were set to face Melbourne (in Perth) and Carlton (in Victoria) in the final two weeks of the season, and were coming off a fixture that saw them leave Western Australia twice in six weeks - comfortably the easiest draw in the competition.

The biggest scalp they claimed during the season was against Collingwood in Round 3 in a game where they were outplayed for the majority. Their other wins came against Geelong, West Coast, St Kilda, Brisbane and the Bulldogs

We make finals and are universally recognised as the best expansion team for the whole season but SEN still give it to a team who missed the finals in St Kilda? There's that Vic bias coming out again.

 

[Jen2310]

I could understand most of their points, but st kilda, the best expansion team? They were the only one who thinks so. Nobody else thought so, clearly GC were. No doubt.

 

[The Victorian]

AFLW Latest News - AFL.com.au/aflw

Latest breaking AFLW news from the official website of the Australian Football League.

womens.afl

AFLW 'W Awards' to still go ahead!

 

[Jen2310]

Three girls in the AA Squad

 

[Choppers]

I found this on another website.....





There were many unknowns about the Suns leading into 2020, not about the talent they had recruited, but about how much those senior players would have to carry such a young list. While senior players certainly led the team, a number of first year players made their mark. Jacqui Yorston came across from Brisbane after playing four games in 2019 and despite being just 19, was a senior leader at the Suns. Living up to the task, she impacted defensively—laying the most tackles of the team—and offensively—kicking two goals. Jamie Stanton’s impact was equally important, directing traffic at the contest on such a consistent basis.
Kate Surman went a little under the radar too, with these numbers proving her debut season was on par with the more experienced Yorston and Stanton, not to mention Kalinda Howarth’s nine goals.

 

[The Victorian]

Despite signing on for two seasons as our major sponsor, it appears Sumo is no longer the AFLW co-major partner with the street food co our major partner?

Sumo set for 2020

The Gold Coast SUNS are pleased to announce Sumo as a co-major partner of the Gold Coast SUNS AFLW team for the next two years.

www.goldcoastfc.com.au

 

[Mini GF]

Redirect Notice

www.google.com.au

Would really appreciate someone telling me about this article
A LOT!

don’t need the help now
Jen answered me on twitter

 

[The Victorian]

AFLW Grand Final day today

What could have been...

 

[Jen2310]

 

[Jen2310]

ALL AUSTRALIAN.\

 

[The Victorian]

ALL AUSTRALIAN.\

Congrats Kalinda!
Hope this might be a good sign for the Rising Star announcement tonight!

 

[Camsta]

ALL AUSTRALIAN.\

What a jet!

 

[The Victorian]

What a jet!

Do we know if she is contracted for next year?