Australian Football League clubs Geelong and Collingwood "are prepared to raid Olympic sports and rival codes to help build enough depth for a 10-team women’s AFL competition," according to Jon Ralph of the HERALD SUN.
Magpies CEO Gary Pert said that Collingwood "has been contacted by elite Olympic athletes wanting to transfer their skills and play for Collingwood’s women’s side."
Geelong CEO Brian Cook said that the Cats believed they "could secure talent from other sports and 'code hoppers' to play for the Cats." Olympic long jumper David Culbert said that there "were dozens of Olympic athletes who might be lured to AFL" by its A$25,000 ($18,700) pay check and instant profile. He said javelin thrower Kim Mickle, a world championships silver medalist, "would be the perfect AFL convert." She became a YouTube sensation after a clip of her "kicking checkside goals from the boundary and swishing drop punts the length of a basketball court went public." Pert said that the Pies "had been shocked by the interest from women who had contacted the Pies." Pert: "A lot of women are saying, 'I am an elite athlete, I bring a lot to the table. I train unbelievably hard but without much support. If I was in the AFL competition it would be more professional and more rewarding'” (HERALD SUN, 5/4).
PUSHING FOR ALIGNMENT: In Melbourne, Caroline Wilson reported Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman "has urged the AFL to reconsider its plan to align the state's women footballers with Greater Western Sydney when the women's national league is launched next year."
Denying his government "had reached an agreement with the AFL over women's football and with the state still in negotiations with North Melbourne over a new five-year deal with Hobart's Blundstone Arena." The Premier is understood to have written to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan this week "regarding a women's alignment with the Kangaroos."
It is understood the talks over the new deal between the Kangaroos and the Hodgman's government "have stalled with the government seeking assurances the AFL will help fund further development of the game in Tasmania with a financial commitment to a North Melbourne-run academy." While a new deal looks likely to be completed in the coming weeks the government "remains embarrassed at the perception it has abandoned its push for a women's team" (THE AGE, 5/4).
