Tigers to Roar on National Stage
Georgia Breward and Lilly Doyle. Photo Adam Hourigan / The Daily Examiner
The AFL NSW/ACT Youth Girls State team has been announced, with two Grafton Tigers gaining selection.
Georgia Breward (16, from Lawrence) and Lilly Doyle (16, from Grafton) will be flying the flag for the Tigers at the National Championships which are to be held across two weekends, in Sydney in May and on the Gold Coast in July. This will be Georgia’s second year in the state team, having gained selection last season, whilst Lilly has gained inclusion for the first time.
Lilly and Georgia will join their team mates for a camp in Sydney from Friday 12 May to Sunday 14 May. The National Championships gets under way the following weekend when the NSW/ACT side takes on Queensland (19 May) and Western Australia (21 May) at Blacktown International Sports Park. The team then travels to the Gold Coast in July to face the Allies (10 July), Vic Country (12 July), and Vic Metro (14 July) in what will be a very challenging five days of footy. The team will be coached by former Sydney Swan and current GWS Giants Women’s coach Tim Schmidt.
Lilly Doyle said that she was overwhelmed when she found out of her selection. “I wasn’t expecting to be picked so it came as a real shock. Georgia and I have been training with the Gold Coast Suns Academy and took part in the recent Youth Girls Academy Series in Coffs. I was happy with the way I played, but this has come as a real surprise. I’m over the moon.”
Paul Taylor, AFL North Coast Operations Co-ordinator, said that the two players are stars of the future. “Both Lilly and Georgia have worked incredibly hard to get to this level and deserve every success that comes their way. Playing in the State team at the National Championships puts them in the eyes of the AFLW recruiters and could see them in the draft in the next couple of years.”
Both girls have come up through the ranks at the Grafton Tigers and are into their third season of playing competitive footy. Prior to this season they have played in mixed competitions with the boys, but the introduction of the AFL North Coast Youth Girls competition means that they now have the chance to play within a local, girls only competition. The Grafton Tigers have a team in the competition that is for girls aged 12 to 16 and new players are very welcome. The season is only one round old, with a further eight rounds plus Finals scheduled, so any girl joining now will have plenty of chances to play AFL. No experience is necessary as the Tigers coaches will teach the skills, while girls such as Lilly and Georgia will act as role models for the new players.
Georgia and Lilly had both played other sports prior to taking up AFL and found that this made the transition really easy. “I played Soccer before and was looking for a new challenge so decided to give AFL a go. I’d never really played the game before but loved the tackling, the teamwork, and the chance to jump above a pack to take a mark. Our team has girls who’ve played Hockey, Basketball, and Netball and the skills from those sports work well in footy. AFL is great fun and I’d love to see more girls playing for the Tigers,” Lilly said.
The Grafton Tigers train on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:00pm at Ellem Oval. Matches are played on Sundays against teams from Coffs, Kempsey, and Port with travel minimised by playing away trips at neutral venues. For more information on the Grafton Tigers Youth Girls team contact the AFL Northern NSW office on 6659 6000 or Matt Crawley on 0431 877 173.
