Tarni Brown and Alice Burke to carry on famous names as AFLW players at Collingwood and St Kilda

Famous names are returning to Collingwood and St Kilda, with the daughters of legends Gavin Brown and Nathan Burke set to play AFLW — and North Melbourne will also land a father-daughter selection in next month’s draft.

Chris Cavanagh

4 min read

September 30, 2020 - 9:54PM

Tarni Brown with her brothers Callum and Tyler and dad Gavin in black and white.

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Collingwood and St Kilda made AFLW history on Tuesday signing the daughter of club legends Gavin Brown and Nathan Burke for next season as the first ever father-daughter picks.

Tarni Brown, the sister to current Magpies Callum and Tyler, will join the same club her dad captained and played 254 games for, including the 1990 premiership.

“It’s a great honour to start my AFLW career at Collingwood,” Brown said.

“I hope to one day establish a name for myself at the club but for now to contribute to the Brown family legacy is a privilege.”

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Alice Burke has committed to St Kilda, where her dad Nathan is a club legend.

Alice Burke also committed to the Saints where her father, who is now the Western Bulldogs AFLW coach, played 323 games and was recently inducted as the ninth Legend of St Kilda.

Burke made the switch from soccer just three years ago after a stellar junior career which included state, representative and national honours.

St Kilda head of women’s football, Jamie Cox, said Burke was highly rated and the club was excited to keep the Burke bloodlines running.

“It is great that the Burke name, which is held in such esteem at St Kilda, will return for a second generation,” Cox said.

“Alice has been part of our father-daughter academy in the past few years and we’ve obviously been in discussions with her for some time but to have it now confirmed is exciting.”

Two generations of Magpies – Callum, Tyler and Tarni with their dad Gavin.

North Melbourne also got in on the father-daughter act, with Amy Smith, daughter of former high-flyer Shaun, set to be selected in next month’s draft.

While Brown and Burke have been earmarked as father-daughter signings, 21-year-old Smith has bolted onto an AFLW list after only playing her first season of footy in 2019 with local club Aberfeldie in the Essendon District Football League.

Tarni Brown takes possession for Eastern Ranges in the NAB League.

Smith’s father recently won a $1.4 million payout in a landmark decision after his insurer recognised the former Kangaroo and Demon had had suffered “total and permanent disablement” due to a number of concussions sustained during his career.

HUBS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR AFLW 2021 SEASON

— Lauren Wood

The prospect of using quarantine hubs for the 2021 AFL Women’s season has been put directly to players.

The AFL Players’ Association on Tuesday issued a survey to more than 400 AFLW players to seek feedback on a range of topics, including whether they are open to moving into quarantine hubs such as those used in the men’s season.

The hurdles to hubs are far greater in the women’s game, given the vast majority of players also work full or part-time or study as well as playing.

As players prepare to return to training, they have been canvassed on their willingness to enter hubs, and for how long with options of as little as a fortnight or for the entire season put forward to gauge interest before the union forms its position.

AFLW players could start next season in hubs.

AFL Women’s players have been granted an exemption under a high-performance athlete category to train in small groups from next week, in voluntary sessions before the pre-season officially begins on November 4.

AFLW chief Nicole Livingstone said on Wednesday that the league “wouldn’t be doing our job properly” if hub setups such as those in place in the men’s competition were not at least considered for the 2021 season, which will begin in February, with the AFL drawing on its own experience along with that of WBBL, NRLW and netball.

“High performance centres need to be one of the things that we do consider,” Livingstone told News Corp.

“It doesn’t mean that we will land there. But we wouldn’t be doing our job properly or doing our due diligence if we weren’t exploring the way that sport is being delivered in a COVID world.

“The way that sport has been delivered has changed, and while we’re hopeful of getting the season away as we had intended, again, we don’t have control over state restrictions and we have to work through all of those scenarios.”

AFLW players have been granted permission to train in small groups from next week.

She said that getting Victorian players – who have been denied not only the opportunity to train, but a state league season and winter academy program – back on the track in small groups from next week was a key step.

And the league remains committed to ensuring the season goes ahead and that a winner is determined after the 2020 campaign was in March cut short without a premier due to COVID-19, with headquarters “full steam ahead” to pre-season beginning next month.

Livingstone also said:

• Granting licences to clubs without a team such as Hawthorn and Essendon was not currently on the immediate agenda, with completing the 2021 season the only focus for now.

• While it had been “a pretty tough time” for clubs amid the COVID-19 crisis, with Richmond its VFL Women’s team in August amid financial constraints and a number of key women’s football figures departing clubs, the industry remained committed to the game.

“Women’s football is still very much something that the clubs are invested in and fully committed to,” she said.

“While it might look a little different to other years, different is not bad. The clubs are still 100 per cent committed to AFLW, and so too from AFL Commission to executive all the way through.

“We recognise the value that AFLW brings, to not only Australian rules football, but to the community.”