Bulldogs star Emma Kearney lights up Whitten Oval in first AFLW game

FORGET Eddie Everywhere. Last night it was Emma Everywhere. Emma Kearney, that is.

Emma Kearney (left) celebrates with Libby Birch.

FORGET Eddie Everywhere.

Last night it was Emma Everywhere.

Emma Kearney, that is, who lit up Whitten Oval in an emphatic opening AFL Women’s win for the Western Bulldogs.

A Melbourne Stars cricketer in the WBBL, the 27-year-old is used to running between wickets but was instead running away from opponents with explosive speed and finding plenty of the footy.

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Kearney finished with 23 disposals — six more than any other player on the ground — as she both cracked in hard at the contest and won her own football and provided an option for teammates running past outside the contest.

“It’s a pretty special occasion, isn’t it, especially in front of 10,000-odd supporters and mostly Bulldogs supporters,” Kearney said.

“We just tried to soak it in as much as possible pre-game so we were ready to go for the game.

“I think the 16-a-side certainly helps me, opening the game up. I was probably a little bit scrappy with my disposal but it’s the first game so I guess I was pretty happy with how I went.”

Emma Kearney (left) celebrates with teammate Libby Birch.

Western Bulldogs coach Paul Groves described Kearney as the “ultimate competitor” post-match, her efforts a key to the Dogs’ 32-point victory.

“She’s so damaging she sort of turns into a 70m player every time (with her run),” Groves said.

“She just doesn’t want to get beat.”

The result will no doubt elevate expectations around Whitten Oval for the pre-season premiership favourites.

Kearney said the group had belief its best was good enough to match it with any of the other seven teams in the competition and that had been proven last night.

“Coming into the game we didn’t really know what to expect from Freo but we knew if we were able to put in our best performance we’d be able to get the win and we were lucky enough we had some really good players stand out for us,” she said.

“It was probably a bit scrappy the first quarter or so but once we settled our nerves we were a lot better and we ran away with it a bit.”

Originally published as Bulldogs star Emma Kearney lights up Whitten Oval in first AFLW game