Murray Bushrangers Millie Brown and Grace Egan can officially call themselves members of an AFLW club after yesterday's draft at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Mooroopna export Brown and Shepparton product Egan knew their names would be called out by Geelong and Carlton respectively heading into the proceedings, but that did not make it any less special to hear.
Brown became the first father-daughter selection in Cats history at pick number 11, with father Paul - who played 84 games in the blue and white hoops - on hand to embrace her after the jumper presentation.
Egan found her new home shortly afterwards at selection 13, with Carlton snaring the talented prospect through the AFLW Academy bidding process.
Cats fans can expect to see Brown in defence next season, although she certainly has the ability to play further up the field.
“It has been terrific to follow Millie’s development over the past couple of years and the club is thrilled that Millie has the honour of being the first father-daughter selection in our history,” Geelong AFLW list manager Ben Waller said when Brown's selection was first announced.
“After playing a number of different roles in recent seasons, Millie took her game to a new level this year as a key defender with the Murray Bushrangers, AFLW Academy and Victoria Country.
“It was great to then see Millie take this confidence into her three VFLW games with us late in the season, where she looked at home in the hoops.”
Egan used the pain of last year's non-selection to spur her on towards finding a spot on a top tier list.
“Missing the draft last year, I was devastated, but I kind of expected it,” Egan told carltonfc.com.au after the Blues picked her up.
“After that, I kind of just thought I have to put my head down now, it's time to put your all in or else in 12 months time this is what's going to happen again.
“I went into the 2019 season with one goal and just wanted to achieve it, and I have.”
Egan joins the Blues alongside six other new draftees.
"We’re obviously delighted to bring some quality talent into the football club, but we also think we’ve found some quality people who fit within our current list needs,” Carlton's general manager of women's football Ash Brown told carltonfc.com.au yesterday.
"We believe we’ve secured two quality midfielders in Lucy (McEvoy) and Grace at the top end of the draft, added to our defensive stocks with Brooke (Vernon) and ‘Mua’ (Vaomua Laloifi), while also adding to list needs by drafting Sharnie (Whiting), Serena (Gibbs) and Courtney (Jones).
"All players have either been stars at underage level or have strongly impacted at VFLW level, so we expect our current group of draftees to have a big impact on the field for us in 2020 and beyond.
"We’re looking forward to seeing what they’re capable of first-hand when they arrive for pre-season and meet their new teammates.”
Former Mansfield netball coach Lauren Tesoriero - who was previously a Collingwood AFLW player - secured a second chance at the highest level at Richmond with pick 96.
As Richmond's recruiting manager Tesoriero technically drafted herself, but after working extremely hard to rehab a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament suffered in June, the Tigers were too impressed to not pick her up - as head of women's football Kate Sheahan explained to foxfooty.com.au yesterday.
"I’m technically the list manager and she’s the recruiter,” Sheahan said.
"At one point she didn’t want to do anything and I said, 'Bad luck, it’s my call, I’ll get it over the line'.
"It was a complete rupture and there was also a bit of damage to her medial ligament. We were like, 'Oh well, that puts out one of our AFL options'.
"But she worked really hard with our medical team to see if she could get strong before Friday’s deadline to nominate for the draft.
"Our physios and rehab specialists have been blown away by her work ethic and how strong her quads have gotten in a short space of time.
"She got the all clear on Friday afternoon when she was doing some physical work with our coach and some one-on-one stuff. Everyone was a bit blown away as to where she was at.”
Among the Goulburn Valley footballers unlucky not to be selected yesterday were Tallygaroopna's Teagan Brett and Nathalia's Reni Hicks.
20°C