FOOTBALLER Casey Jess is excited by the prospect of representing the Wimmera in an all-female Australian rules football team.
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The daughter of former Richmond premiership player Jimmy Jess has moved to the region and is pushing to establish a women’s team with AFL Wimmera-Mallee.
“I was a little bit disappointed that there wasn’t already a women’s team here,” Jess said.
“There are a lot of girls who grew up like myself playing netball because they didn’t have that AFL pathway.”
AFL Wimmera-Mallee hopes to create the pathway for women in the region after the Wimmera entered girls football teams in the Deakin University Female Football League competition this year. AFL Wimmera-Mallee football development manager Jason Muldoon said a women’s team was a fantastic prospect.
“These are really exciting times. We are putting the proposals out there,” he said.
“With the inclusion of the Deakin University league, which is for 13 to 18-year-olds, we need to create a path for the girls finishing in that competition.
“For people moving to the area who have previously played football, we feel we need to create an opportunity for them also.”
Mr Muldoon said the first training session for the women’s team would be on December 11 at Horsham College’s main oval.
The session will start at 6.30pm.
Mr Muldoon said the level of interest at the session would determine how plans progressed. He expects there to be plenty of excitement around the proposal.
“We might have enough players for two teams,” he said.
I think the team will just be the start of it. Once the ball gets rolling it will be a massive explosion.
- Jason Muldoon
Jess said posts on Facebook about a women’s team in the region had attracted a lot of feedback. “We’ve had quite a lot of hits so we should get a good turnout,” she said.
Mr Muldoon said there would be a number of opponent options if women’s team went ahead.
“We would be looking at maybe playing eight to 10 games throughout the year,” he said.
“There would have to be varied opponents because of the travel factor. Our closest organised competition is in Ballarat.
“We would be looking at maybe playing teams out of Warrnambool, Hamilton and Mount Gambier – there will be teams that we will certainly play.”
Mr Muldoon said AFL Wimmera-Mallee was keen to help further the women’s game in regional Victoria.
“We want this to be a Wimmera-Mallee team to start with, and then hopefully in the future as numbers expand we can push them out to club level,” he said.
“I think the team will just be the start of it. Once the ball gets rolling it will be a massive explosion.”
