Dream job for schoolteacher Lisa Steane with GWS Giants in AFLW
She moved home to pursue a dream. That dream is now just a few months away for this Sydney schoolteacher with a love – and talent – for AFLW.
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Four years after playing the game for the first time, Sydney teacher Lisa Steane has clinched a dream second job – as an elite AFLW player.
Steane relocated from her home at Nelson Bay to Sydney to pursue her dream of playing AFLW professionally and two years later has been drafted to the GWS Giants.
Now the 24-year-old schoolteacher from Chiswick is preparing to juggle her on and off field careers with a bit of advice from Giants captain Amanda Farrugia.
Seven Hills AFLW gun Farrugia is a teacher at Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta.
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“I was a bit unsure about being able to juggle but Amanda Farrugia says it will be fine. I want to work as well of course, I love my job,’’ said Steane, a full-time teacher at Canley Heights Public School.
The Giants picked up Steane second with their 23rd pick with the midfielder helping guide Macquarie University to a Sydney AFL premiership this season alongside Farrugia.
“I have been working three to four years to get onto the team. I’ve put in a lot of work,’’ said Steane.
Steane is one of nine new Giants players preparing for the fourth season of AFLW.
AFLW expands in 2020 with the Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast joining the fray.
The upcoming season will be the first time a three-week finals series will be held in a top-six system.
The home and away season will be eight round followed by a three week finals period.
Under the model, the two teams that finish on top their respective conferences will earn a week off before the preliminary finals.
A double header featuring the men’s and women’s Giants and Geelong teams is one of several innovations featured in the 2020 AFLW season fixture.
The Giants will be the first club to stage an AFLW/AFL double header for premiership points.
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They will also play a match in the a AFLW home game in the Riverina for the first time in round five.
The Giants open their 2020 campaign against new expansion side, the Gold Coast Suns, at Blacktown International Sportspark on February 8.