On Sunday the Gold Coast SUNS completed the first AFLW Talent ID Day in Mackay.
It’s the first of six days the club plans to hold across talent regions from North Queensland to the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers.
20 girls were invited to attend the day in Mackay and were put through a number of skill-based drills and small-sided games to test their aptitude to AFL football.
There was a mixture of open-age talent and young Academy prospects vying to impress SUNS coaching and football staff, including Head of Women’s Football Fiona McLarty.
“We had a great turnout for the testing day. It’s great to see the talent in North Queensland,” McLarty said.
“Every time I come up here we see someone new or someone different that we haven’t seen before.
“It’s really exciting to see that talent and to think about how we can integrate them into our Gold Coast SUNS programs.”
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There were a number of cross-code athletes invited to the day as the club looks to fill a number of rookie positions on the AFLW list.
Athletes with backgrounds in rugby league, basketball, netball, soccer, cricket, hockey, softball, athletics, martial arts and Oztag were all in the mix.
“Obviously with those sports they pick up different skills, and a lot of those skills are really transferrable to AFL,” McLarty said.
“As we’ve seen with AFLW, we’ve had elite athletes from other sports come across and slot straight into the program.
It’s really exciting to see particularly some of these rugby league players from North Queensland, what they might have to offer and be able to give to AFLW.”
The next Talent ID day will be held in Lismore on Sunday prior to the JLT2 match, with more dates to be announced in North Queensland shortly.
