North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney reveals how AFLW star Jess Duffin fooled teammates about pregnancy
North Melbourne skipper Emma Kearney has revealed how pregnant teammate Jess Duffin pulled the wool over her teammates’ eyes, fooling them during pre-season by blaming morning sickness on a chicken schnitzel.
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North Melbourne skipper Emma Kearney said her expecting teammate Jess Duffin had thrown her off the pregnancy trail by declaring her mourning sickness was from a dodgy chicken schnitzel.
Dual AFLW and Australian cricket star Duffin had kept everyone guessing about her immediate playing future in both sports until announcing on New Year’s Eve she would be having a baby.
“She had some morning sickness, and missed one of her Renegades games,” Kearney revealed.
“I flicked her a message saying, ‘mate, any chance that you’re pregnant?’.
“She goes ‘nah, I’ve just eaten a bad chicken schnitzel’.
“Obviously now I’m piecing it together and when she came back to training after the Big Bash before Christmas and said, ‘they’re just easing me back in, after Christmas I’ll be back to normal’.
“She was pulling my leg the whole time, but obviously they wanted to wait until that 12-week mark. We’re just so, so happy for her. It’s just amazing.”
Duffin will miss both the coming AFLW season and the opportunity to represent Australia in its coming T20 World Cup title defence.
Kearney said she would miss looking across the midfield and seeing Duffin, but her value had been immense from the sidelines as she took up a role as backline coach.
She said she would back the Roos’ depth to cover the absence of the star midfielder in the side’s second season.
“It’s been really good for me just to bounce ideas off her,” Kearney said.
“Sometimes it’s really hard to see what’s going on out there when you’re in the thick of things.
“I reckon she probably would have been selected for Australia in the T20 World Cup, so probably would have been missing for us anyway.
“It’s always really hard to cover … you can’t cover a player like her, but I guess the recruiting staff have done a fantastic job at getting players in that can play roles for us.
“That’s all you can ask for. We don’t necessarily need big names to be stepping up all the time. It’s just about those players knowing what their role is and being able to execute that.”
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Key tall Emma King will swing forward more after three seasons in the ruck at Collingwood and North Melbourne, which Kearney said would provide another threatening weapon.
“Because of her size and the way she competes, she’s going to bring the ball to ground,” she said.
“She’s going to be very, very rarely out-marked, which gives us better access to our smaller forwards and also our mids who might move forward as well. Hopefully we see a bit more magic from Emma King. She’s definitely shown it in the couple of practice matches that we’ve had so far, which is really exciting.”
King – an AFLPA player delegate – worked closely with Kearney who had a keen interest in the recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the union and the league.
The Herald Sun revealed this week that top-level umpires will officiate AFLW for the first time this season, which Kearney welcomed.
She said the time had come for female players to be recognised for their true value.
“I think it’s great that the players took a stand and we’re getting a lot better deal than what we originally thought was possible,” she said.
“That’s a good thing. We’re not just here to have a go and be grateful for what we’re given – we’re trying to fight for what we deserve, which is a good thing.”
Originally published as North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney reveals how AFLW star Jess Duffin fooled teammates about pregnancy