Meeting the milestone girls of under-17 girls competition – so far
Here’s the milestone girls of the SEQ AFL under-17s so far this season, including 100 match celebrations for Tweed Cooly, Roos, Southport and Tweed Coast Tigers players.
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Brooke Fingland (Coorparoo), Tarryn Parker (Tweed Coolangatta), Summer Browning (Tweed Coast Northern Rivers) and Southport pair Scarlett Featherstone and Mikhayla Nurse have entered rare air by passing 100 matches.
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Among the finest players in the SEQ AFL under-17s, this might fivesome have been monuments to their respective clubs.
In this story we pay tribute to them, along with Amilia Reeves (Moreton Bay) who surged to her own personal milestone (50 games), Tweed Coast Northern Rivers’ Bonnie Starling (also 50 matches) and Tweed Coolangatta pair Ava Brown and Bree-Ann Langeveld (both 50 matches).
Brooke Fingland (Coorparoo)
Having recently marked the 100th match of Roos and Wynnum junior Emma Bracegirdle, the Roos have another 100 gamer in Fingland.
Playing against Southport at home Coorparoo, Fingland celebrated her 100th with a win.
Fingland started as an Auskick player and early on, had the honour of playing Auskick during the halftime of the Lions AFL match at the Gabba.
She played her first game at Coorparoo in the under 11’s in 2013 and went on to win the premiership that season.
She has since progressed all the way to under 17’s in 2024 and over the years has been a regular school sport representative player.
But Fingland is more than just a fine footballer – she is an umpire at the club as well.
Tarryn Parker (Tweed Coolangatta)
Parker entered the 100 club, a wonderful moment for someone who is so respected at the club.
Around the group she is a terrific leader and has a lovely demeanour, and on the field she is an ace player, particularly around the wing position.
It has also been a milestone season for Parker’s teammates, Ava Brown and Bree-Ann Langeveld, who passed the 50 match milestone for Tweed Cooly.
On a glorious winter’s day, the southern Gold Coast girls all passed the milestones together.
Summer Browning (Tweed Coast Northern Rivers)
It has been another big season for the Tigers which every week seems to have magic moments which brings joy to the playing group.
And one such occasion was the 100 game milestone for tearaway winger Summer Browning.
“This little excitement machine started her footy at the Murwillumbah Vulcan’s,’’ explained head coach Steve Foreman.
“She has played her age group matches every weekend – and backed up for the next since the under-13s.’’
Bonnie Starling (Tweed Coast Northern Rivers)
Cool under pressure, and courageous to the core, full back Bonnie Starling reached her milestone 50th during a win last month against the Demons.
She is a born and bred Tweed Coast Tiger girl, a wonderfully versatile player who is tough, so tough she sometimes plays up in the women’s senior side.
“She is a great teammate to all the girls,’’ said head coach Steve Foreman.
Amilia Reeves (Moreton Bay)
Reeves celebrated her 50th match for the booming junior club, bursting through a “Congrats Milly’’ banner with gusto as she led her teammates into action.
It was another wonderful moment in the history of the club which started in 1986, but only became known as the Lions 10 years ago.
Scarlett Featherstone and Mikhayla Nurse (Southport)
This dynamic duo were a part of an exciting young crop of players identified by the Gold Coast Suns Academy.
Both girls were making so much progress, they made her senior debuts with the Southport QAFLW side earlier in the season.
Nurse is from the Pacific Pines SHS school catchment where she came through with another elite Sharks’ junior, Rhianna Ingram whose name we put up in lights last season.
Featherstone, a hard running midfield type, is the daughter of former champion Labrador rover Todd Featherstone, so it is little wonder she knows her way around a footy field.
Don’t forget, already this year we have had these girls surge to milestones:
+ Emma Bracegirdle remarkably passed 150 junior games, having played all but one season at Coorparoo.
+ Sandgate Hawks Georgia Watterson leads her side on every week as captain, but earlier this year she had the honour of breaking through a banner bearing her name.
+ Wilston Grange’s Eva Sceney was also a proud 100 match player, with a special banner created in her honour.
+ Gorillas’ pair Isobel Bradley and Jess Black were the first players to milestone this season when they both reached the 50 game mark.
+ Redcliffe pair Jessica Williams and Amber Grace Cullen enjoyed their milestone moment by both registering 50 matches for the Tigers on the same day.
+ Wynnum Vikings current player Chelsea Schubert surged beyond the 50 match mark.
+ Tweed Coast’s Sundara Seymour also reached the 50 match mark.
+ Coorparoo’s Freyja Atkins passed 100 games of junior footy after playing a majority of her career at Wynnum Vikings.
It was a particularly special moment given Atkins lost three seasons of her junior career while living in Canada with her parents.
Even then, Atkins’ spread the footy gospel and as a result now has a small band of people following the code from Canada. More on that story here.
Originally published as Meeting the milestone girls of under-17 girls competition – so far
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