Wagga gun Alyce Parker heading home with AFLW ‘family’ for Giants v Richmond
It rates as one of the most difficult tasks in sport. Making a die hard AFL fan share their loyalties with another club. But this young player has done it.
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There’s not a lot that can convert a diehard Richmond fan to another club but Alyce Parker has found a way to do it.
The teenage midfielder left her family sheep and crop farm at Cookardinia, near Wagga, post her Higher School Certificate in 2018 to join the GWS Giants for the 2019 AFLW season.
The two-time under-18 All Australian is now about to enter her second season of the elite competition with a club she now calls her “family”.
And it’s the Cabarita-based players connection with the Giants that has swayed her family to barrack for another club - from time to time.
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“We are Richmond supporters and have been since forever,” former Billabong High School student Parker said of the family footy loyalties.
“Mum is converted already and I think dad has a soft spot for the Giants now as well.”
A former elite swimmer, representative netballer and captain of the NSW/ACT Rams, Parker said it was only six months before she was first drafted she had decided to pursue a career in the game.
I came in last year fresh out of school and it was bit daunting. I was just 18 and a little bit scared
“I couldn’t play until 12 because there were no girls teams so I used to kick with the boys as a kid,” said Parker, who played every game with the Giants last season.
“Then a teacher asked if wanted to play AFL and I just fell in love with the game.
“Now I’m going into my second year and it’s great.
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“I came in last year fresh out of school and it was a bit daunting. I was just 18 and a little bit scared.
“But the players, the team, just all put their arms around me and hugged me so I would belong.”
A highlight for Parker this season will be returning to Wagga in March for a special weekend of AFL.
The Giants will host a home AFLW game in the Riverina for the first time with a match against Richmond on March 7.
The Giants men will then take on Richmond in a much-anticipated game on March 8.
“My old netball club and the football club have already booked a bus,’’ she said.
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Originally published as Wagga gun Alyce Parker heading home with AFLW ‘family’ for Giants v Richmond