Geelong will unveil Irish recruit Kate Kenny in Saturday night’s AFLW season opener against Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium.
Kenny, who is a star in both Gaelic Football and camogie (hurling) in the Emerald Isle, will become the fourth player from Ireland to pull on the Hoops for the Cats at AFLW level, joining Rachel Kearns and 2023 recruits Aishling Moloney and Anna-Rose Kennedy.
Coach Dan Lowther says the 22-year-old deserves to debut and will help fill the gap left by leading goalkicker Chloe Scheer, who is recovering from toe surgery.
“She’s just been herself, to be fair; her Gaelic style of play, coming into AFL, it suits it really well,” Lowther said.
“Being a scorer, she’s got a real knack for (a) goal. She kicks both left foot (and) right foot really well.
“And she’s super smart, so she’s picked up on our forward-half system that we play very quickly.
“She’s very diligent, (and) the way she’s worked on her craft; she’s always wanting to find out how she can be better and do things differently.
“With all that in mind, it’s no surprise she’s picked to play Round 1.”
After taking until Geelong’s sixth season to play the Demons, Saturday night’s meeting will be the third between the clubs in the past 12 months.
The Cats suffered their biggest loss of the 2023 season – 49 points – to Melbourne in Round 5 at GMHBA Stadium.
However, Lowther’s team came out on top by five points in a pulsating semi-final.
“It’s a marquee match-up now for us,” he said. They smacked us last year after half-time, and we learnt a lot from that first performance.
“Then, obviously, the final, we played a better game… probably more our brand, and probably where it was from a performance perspective from us late in the year, too.
“Round 1, it’s been nine months of waiting, so it will be interesting to see how both teams line up.
“They’re a quality team – have been for a long time, so it’s great for us to play against them.”
Geelong’s team will be released tomorrow (Friday) night.
Catch all the action live and delay-free via krockfootball.com from 6:30 pm Saturday.
X: @krockfootball
