By JARROD POTTER
WHEN West Coast went looking for a captain to lead them out in the inaugural AFL Women’s Derby, former Narre Warren/Berwick midfield maestro Kara Donnellan was the obvious choice.
Donnellan, 24, has called Perth home for a few years now and has quickly cemented her status as one of the Western Australian Women’s Football League’s (WAWAFL) champions – especially with her Swan Districts’ side earning back-to-back flags.
She’s no stranger to the AFL circuit either – as she won the best on ground medal in the Melbourne’s hard-fought victory over the Bulldogs last year – so the Eagles called up her to the top job and announced her the skipper in the weeks leading up to the clash.
“To play footy on any big stage is obviously a dream come true, but to be able to lead out a team in my adopted home-state in front of a massively big West Coast home crowd on Derby day was special,” Donnellan said. “Probably didn’t sink in until the week of the game – there was plenty of media around it and the game got pumped up and it all sank in then and realised what was happening.
Trading her Melbourne jersey for a West Coast one this year – as the AFL has re-configured the Women’s games into the 2016 Exhibition Series – Donnellan starred in the inaugural derby, racking up 22 possessions on Saturday.
Donnellan and her Eagles proved far too strong for the Dockers – smashing their rivals by 65 points.
The best 44 players throughout Western Australia battled it out in the first Dockers v Eagles women’s match and Donnellan thought it was a fantastic showcase for the best of WA women’s football.
While it was certainly a change from her recent AFL clashes representing Melbourne, it was a challenge Donnellan was happy to take on nonetheless.
“It was obviously very, very special as you’re playing with and against your team mates that you’re playing with at club level,” Donnellan said. “It does vary a little bit from the Dees in terms of that – you’re proud to represent a side from within your state and I suppose the Dees is the pinnacle.
“The Dees and Bulldogs games are the pinnacle of women’s footy in this day and age and I’m happy to just get out there to play any type of footy and excited to see where all this goes in terms of the national competition this year.”
While she’s not sure where she’ll call home yet for next year’s AFL Women’s national competition, Donnellan hopes to feature in the start-up league and make an immediate impact at the best standard yet.
“To know the West Coast Eagles support women’s footy … to really pump up the game and make us feel part of the footy club and just knowing there’s AFL teams out there that support and give a stuff I suppose about women’s footy makes it all that more real.
It’s really exciting and I can’t wait to hopefully pull on an AFL jumper in the new national comp next year and it’s a reality now for all the girls and that’s the exciting part of it.”
Donnellan will also likely captain a Western Australian team to battle the Bulldogs on 5 June ahead of the Western Bulldogs-West Coast round 11 clash.
