First Women’s Draft is the Finished Product

Breakers and Sawtell players at Draft Night

An incredible response from women wanting to play AFL has seen the first ever draft staged to create the teams to compete in the inaugural AFL North Coast Women’s competition.

The draft has seen 63 women selected by Port Macquarie Magpies, Sawtell Toormina Saints, and Coffs Harbour Breakers. The players come from varying backgrounds of age, experience, and sporting background, but are united in their passion to drive Women’s AFL on the local scene.

Paul Taylor, Football Operations Co-ordinator, said that excitement continues to build ahead of the start of the season. “We staged the draft at venues in both Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour and had over 90 people in attendance. To be two months out from the start of the local season and have this many people showing their support is a fantastic start.

“The draft was timed to coincide with the first round of the AFLW season as there’s no better way to celebrate female footy. Last year’s experience showed us that women will watch AFLW, will be hooked, and will want to play, so we know there’s another wave of participants right around the corner.”

The Grafton Tigers are also expecting to join the competition in 2018 with recruitment ramping up across the Clarence. The club has a dozen players who are already showing a keen interest and it’s expected that this will lead to the formation of a team ahead of the start of the season. The Tigers Youth Girls team were runners-up in that competition last season and will provide a strong skill base upon which the Women’s team will be built.

For more information on Women’s AFL, Youth Girls footy, or any other aspect of local AFL, please call the Northern NSW office on 6659 6000.

To view the team lists as announced on the night please click here.

Our panel of experts have named “12 to Watch”, a list of a dozen players from the three teams that are expected to have a big impact on the inaugural competition. To view the list please click here.