Lilli-yana Moody leads North Coast girls’ bid to earn AFLW contracts

The Sydney Swans are recruiting for their inaugural AFLW side and they are starting with talent from the North Coast. Here are the players in the running for a contract.

If it weren’t for Covid-19, 17-year old Lilli-yana Moody might be trialling to earn a contract at the Sydney Kings in the NBL.

Instead, she’s making the five-hour trek to Sydney every weekend in the hopes that an AFLW contract isn’t far away.

“I started playing AFL in 2020 because of Covid and basketball for me was mostly an indoor sport,” she said.

“I wanted a bit of change from basketball.”

17-year old Sawtell-Toormina Saints player Lilli-Yana Moody

Moody originally picked up AFL for fun but last year she signed for the Sydney Swans Top End Academy, a nursery for rising stars.

She is now a regular at Sawtell-Toormina Saints in the AFL North Coast Leagues.

For the next six weeks, she, along with three other North Coast hopefuls, will join 120 players in a Summer Series to impress talent scouts and coaches from the Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants.

The inaugural series features the best footballers in NSW and the ACT, with each of the elite clubs fielding two teams.

The tournament represents a quick transition from originally wanting footy to be a hobby.

“I didn’t expect to play at a high level but if the opportunity comes about I have to take it,” Moody said.

She is one of four North Coast girls gunning for a spot in the expanded women’s season in 2022/23.

Yamba's Brianna McFarlane has had to wait more than two years for an AFLW debut.

Brianna McFarlane, April Devine and Cass Ronalds all play for Coffs Harbour Breakers and are vying for an AFLW spot.

McFarlane is a former Brisbane Lions AFLW player and is a favourite to earn another deal.

She was included as a rookie in 2018 and comes from a soccer background, but a chipped bone in her dislocated shoulder ended her hopes of a debut.

April Devine takes a strong mark for the Coffs Breakers in the match against Grafton. Picture: Green Shoots Marketing

Devine, 18, is a current member of the Swans Top End Academy and last year represented the Allies at the AFLW Under 19 National Championships.

Ronalds, 21, is a former member of the Swans Academy program who won the AFL North Coast Best and Fairest award in 2020.

The Summer Series adds another level to the AFL pathway to ensure talent is not going to waste across New South Wales.

Coffs Harbour Breakers player Cass Ronalds

“The introduction of the Women’s Summer Series allows us, for the first time, to have an underpinning competition for those not selected to play at AFLW level,” Giants Head of Women’s Football Briana Harvey said.

“It’s also a great opportunity for our train-on players, academy athletes and other players across NSW and the ACT to be part of a development program as they work towards playing at the elite level.”

The Women’s Summer Series continues weekly until March 12.