AFLW and cricket star Jess Duffin announces pregnancy, set to miss Women’s T20 World Cup and AFLW season
After weeks of to and fro about whether she would commit to the Women’s T20 World Cup or AFLW next year, AFLW star Jess Duffin has announced her she’ll be starting a family in 2020.
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Jess Duffin will miss the AFL Women’s season and Women’s T20 World Cup, but for good reason.
The dual-sport star is having a baby.
Duffin and her husband Chris are set to welcome a baby girl in July, she announced today, having told family on Christmas Day.
The Kangaroos star — who earned All-Australian selection in 2019 — has been ruled out of the upcoming AFLW season and has ended her cricket commitments for now following hopes of representing Australia in the home World Cup in February.
Duffin had been in the spotlight in recent weeks as she was questioned as to whether she would choose football or cricket in coming months.
As weeks of intensifying pressure, Duffin today admitted that she had known of her pregnancy the entire time which she said had been difficult to keep under wraps.
“It’s been very hard, especially with everything that’s gone on in the last two months with talk about selection and everything like that,” she told the Herald Sun.
“It’s been very hard to keep my mouth shut.”
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Duffin, who said she had been feeling well throughout her pregnancy so far, said she had been “very” tempted to let the cat out of the bag.
“I was pregnant the whole Big Bash, so it was a bit funny actually,” she said.
“Speaking with my husband, it was kind of like ‘do we take the risk and just tell them so they can kind of calm down about everything, or do we just do it on our terms and wait until we want to announce it and just hope that people are OK with the fact that I haven’t said anything?’.”
Duffin this season became the first WBBL player to reach 500 runs in a season and was named player of the season for her performance for the Melbourne Renegades.
She said she let one national cricket selector know “quite early” and that while she was sad to miss February’s huge tournament — which will be held across Australia with the final at the MCG on March 8 — the circumstances meant she could not be too disappointed.
But the star — who has played 20 games of AFLW, including 13 for Collingwood before moving to the Kangaroos before the 2019 season — won’t be staying away from Arden Street.
Jess Duffin will miss the 2020 season, announcing she is due to give birth in July. Congratulations Jess and her husband, Chris! #OurTimeIsNow
— North Melbourne AFLW (@NorthAFLW) December 30, 2019
“Everyone that needs to know now knows, so I won’t be a part of (the World Cup as a player) which is disappointing but at the same time it’s kind of like, well, something else exciting is happening,” Duffin said.
“With footy, I think the plan is just to get me around the group still and do a bit of coaching maybe.
“Kano (North Melbourne football boss Laura Kane) is quite keen on me staying off the track, which I might fight her a little bit over. We’ll obviously play it by ear.”
Duffin’s announcement came via Instagram early on New Year’s Eve, delivered by Spoodle pair Sadie and Charlie.
She said Charlie had been “very affectionate” in recent weeks whereas Sadie “couldn’t really care less”.
North Melbourne will now make an application to the AFL for special consideration to replace her on the team’s list before the upcoming AFLW season.