Grafton Tigers look to field senior women’s team for first time

For the first time in the club’s history, the Grafton Tigers will look to field their first stand-alone women’s senior team for the 2021 AFL North Coast season

Grafton Tigers in 2021 are looking to have a standalone senior women's team for the first time in the club's history.

The Grafton Tigers will look to build on their successful 2020 season by breaking new ground with a club first: a stand-alone women’s senior team.

For years the club’s Youth Girls side has gone from strength to strength, but with many of the team looking to transition into the senior grade president James Hourigan said the club was keen to see them stay and have a team of their own.

“We are still building numbers to a degree, but we’re definitely getting there,” he said.

“There’s quite a few players in the Youth Girls side move up from that age group and they’ve had a fairly high success rate over the last few years but now they’ve hit that top end of the age group.

“As a club we want to see them stay and also build a bit of interest around the place. From when we had the merged team with Woolgoolga last couple of years it’s just been a numbers game to build up to where we are now.”

Hourigan said the Senior Women’s team was also an opportunity to give those new to the sport a chance to lace up the boots and experience Aussie rules football.

Grafton Tigers in 2021 are looking to have a stand-alone senior women's team for the first time in the club's history.

“It’s a case the more the merrier at the moment, we’ve got a mix of youth and experience and a bit of everything in between,” he said.

“At the moment really trying to get a few more players in and join the club. We’ve made a solid start, our junior girls coming up have the experience, we just need a few more people to come in and have some fun and learn what AFL is all about.”

Coming off the back of a strong pre-season, Hourigan said their premiership-winning Senior Men’s grade was prepared for the task of defending their 2020 flag.

“The side has been training pretty hard, we’ve lost a few players from last year’s premiership winning side so we will have our work cut out for us but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

Grafton Tigers in 2021 are looking to have a stand-alone senior women's team for the first time in the club's history.

With the season set to start on April 24, the AFL North Coast has expanded for the third year in a row.

The Lismore Swans and Casino Lions have chosen to join the league from this season, following the Northern Beaches Blues returning to the fold two seasons ago, and Nambucca Valley Lions rejoining last season. Lismore and Casino entering AFL North Coast brings the overall number of clubs to eight in what will be one of the biggest and best seasons of local footy in 2021.

“As a whole the competition’s really growing and expanding which is fantastic,” Hourigan said.

“For the first time we will have a stand-alone women’s team which would be awesome as it’s something we’ve been working towards the last few years and it has certainly a goal of mine.

“It’s really exciting and it will help to bring a family atmosphere around the club where literally you can have the whole family play and that’s exciting.”

Originally published as Grafton Tigers look to field senior women’s team for first time