By JARROD POTTER
SIX Cranbourne VWFL premiership players will continue their elite 2015 after selection in the AFL Victoria Women’s Academy.
After a sensational season for the Eagles – winning the Victorian Women’s Football League (VWFL) Division 1 premiership by a point over Knox – Cranbourne’s finest will have one more football challenge this year when they undergo significant training and testing at the hands of AFL Victoria.
Bianca Jakobsson, Cara Moody, Danielle Hardiman, Hayley Wildes, Kirsten McLeod and Tess McEvoy were picked to be part of the inaugural academy.
The Eagles’ six will undergo a nine-month program involving training and skills testing at AFL club venues including Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne.
The academy started on Sunday – with the first of many time trials run – and the opportunity was a huge thrill for Jakobsson.
“It’s a great opportunity – women’s footy is growing and growing and to be a part of this massive step into women’s footy and the first thing like this year is great,” Jakobsson said.
“It will be similar to what the TAC Cup boys experience and go through with the draft process and we get great coaches and a great environment to get better and excel in.
“It’s great to have five of the other girls there, six of us total – and we’re now representing the Cranny footy club and how well we did this year it puts forward another great step for Cranbourne and what the club and the team has done there.”
The academy is part of an amazing leap forward for women’s footy just in the time Jakobsson has been involved in senior football – especially in the short period of time from when she was drafted to Melbourne in the inaugural women’s draft two years ago to now.
“For the first draft there wasn’t that much publicity and not many people knew about it – but for this year to be televised was huge and the ratings we got, the leaps and bounds we’ve got to get where we are is amazing,” Jakobsson said.
The academy has set the express goal of developing AFL-ready players ahead of the slated 2017 introduction of the national women’s competition.
AFL Victoria Female Football manager Darren Flanigan said this was the first step towards preparing these players for a future AFL national women’s competition.
“It is an exciting program we have developed, and is a great opportunity for the players invited to challenge themselves to reach their full potential,” Flanigan said.
“We are bringing together individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds in an attempt to give everyone involved the best possible opportunity to pursue their aspirations of playing high-level Australian football.”
Other locals to feature in the academy are former Berwick duo Katie Loynes (Diamond Creek) and Ellie Blackburn (Melbourne Uni) – who both have AFL experience having played for the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne respectively.
Former Hallam premiership player Hannah Scott and ex-Keysborough best-and-fairest Jaimee Lambert are also part of the 100-strong academy.
