BENDIGO will host an Aussie Rules football team with a difference next week.
What sets this squad of 24 players apart from most visiting footy groups is that it is all female and all but one of the players were born and bred in the United States.
The US Freedom team is set to take on a Bendigo side at Dower Park next Thursday, just one of four matches they will play on their two-week tour of Victoria, New
South Wales and Queensland.
The Bendigo side, finalised after training last night, will be skippered by leading local basketballer Andrea Walsh and vice-captained by former Victorian youth girls representative Sarah Baldwin.
The appointment of Walsh set me thinking about other high-profile Australian sportswomen whose talents could quite easily translate on to the football field.
Watching netball superstar Sharelle McMahon throw her
body at the ball as she led her Melbourne Vixens to victory in the ANZ Championship recently, it crossed my mind that she had many attributes of an outstanding AFL player - superb ball skills, physicality, guts, determination, that killer sporting instinct and a reasonably high profile.
All that is missing is the pay packet, but that's another story entirely.
McMahon is definitely not alone. There are numerous female athletes out there who, given a different set of circumstances, might have made elite AFL players.
With this in mind, I've compiled a list of mostly modern-day female champions from a range of sports who I reckon would make a formidable outfit.
How is this for a superstar line-up?
BACKLINE
Cathy Freeman (400m Olympic gold medallist): Indigenous star who is a noted big-time performer.
Liz Ellis (veteran Australian netball defender): Fit enough to come out of retirement and be a strong, niggling full-back.
Anna Meares (Olympic track cycling champion): Returned to peak form after overcoming a serious neck injury, has enormous determination and a great burst
of pace.
HALF-BACKS
Ellyse Perry (national cricketer/Matildas soccer player): Great foot skills, very versatile so can quickly switch roles if need be.
Alicia Molik (tennis star, Olympian): On the comeback trail after injury, strong overhead and loves her footy (can also be counted on to represent the team
on Dancing with the Stars).
Leisel Jones (Olympic and world breaststroke champion): Nice and tall, prone to nerves early in career but has matured into a consistent performer.
CENTRE
Rechelle Hawkes (Three-time Olympic gold medallist with Hockeyroos): Decorated veteran who leads by example and has experienced grand final success on
numerous occasions.
Sharelle McMahon (Australian netball captain): Silky skills, only ever has eyes for the ball, and not
afraid to throw her body into a contest.
Emma Snowsill (World/Olympic triathlon champion): Has a huge engine and will just keep running all day.
HALF-FORWARDS
Sally McLellan (Olympic 100m hurdles silver medallist): Lightning quick, can take a leap, and is known for putting on a celebration display that's hard to top.
Stephanie Rice (Triple Olympic swimming gold medallist): Usually lives up to big expectations and can force her way through when required.
Lauren Marks (Olympic shooter): Knows how to find a target, and is very accurate in her own right when taking aim.
FORWARDS
Alisa Camplin (Winter Olympic freestyle skiing champion): Small, fast and exciting to watch when she launches herself into the air. Best aerial skills going round.
Caitlin Thwaites (Bendigo-raised Australian netball squad member): Impressive conversion rate, can find the goals in close but also land the long bombs.
Lisa De Vanna (Matildas soccer player, Women's World Cup All-Star): A proven goal scorer who has well and truly earned her place among the game's elite.
FOLLOWERS
Lauren Jackson (International basketball superstar): Marquee player. Very mobile, great skill, never takes a backward step, a true class act.
Kristi Harrower (Bendigo's Olympic basketball medallist): Strong on the attack, close-checking defensive skills and never gives up trying.
Libby Trickett (Olympic freestyle and butterfly medallist): Quick, reliable and a real team player who comes into her own in the wet.
INTERCHANGE
Jana Rawlinson (World 400m hurdles champion) and Jelena Dokic (Wimbledon semi-finalist, former world no.4 tennis player): Both very talented but prone to injury, and often in the headlines for their off-field activities (wouldn't be a footy team without one or two of those).
Karrie Webb (World-class golfer): Provides long drives through the lines and can be relied on to chip the ball around.
Lauren Burns (Olympic taekwondo gold medallist): Great kick with both feet and has a keen fighting spirit when the chips are down.
COACH
Joyce Brown (Australian netball "coach of the century'', mother of ex-Carlton star Fraser Brown and
once tipped to join the Blues in a coaching role): Has the coaching knowledge and experience, the family background and strong connections to one of the original AFL clubs.
The Youth Girls AFL competition in Bendigo is giving teenage females the chance to show that footy is no longer just a boys' game.
And the visit to Bendigo by the US Freedom squad is further proof that women can, and indeed do, play our national football code, even as far afield as the other side of the world.
If you have a spare moment next Thursday afternoon, head down to Dower Park in Kangaroo Flat from 5pm to give the Americans and our local ladies some friendly support from the sidelines.
For more reports on the US Freedom tour and their match against Southern Shorthaul Rail Bendigo, see Women in Sport in The Advertiser on Monday.
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