The invasion continues…
News broke today that Clare dual star Ailish Considine has signed with the Adelaide Crows ahead of the 2019 AFLW season.
Well, why stop there!
Cross Coders have also announced that Donegal full forward Yvonne Bonner is set to join GWS Giants for the forthcoming season.
Fans will be aware that the Giants is also home to ladies football legend Cora Staunton who lit up the competition last season with her attacking flair and unique kicking style that Australian commentators dubbed ‘the banana kick’.
The two-time All-Star nominee has described the move as a dream come true, and looks forward to linking up with Staunton in Australia.
“For this to actually come true, it’s like a dream, I suppose, to know that I’m the next Irish girl to come out after Cora.
“I play full forward back home for Donegal, so i’ll play quite similar. It’ll just take a while to get used to the different ways of marking and stuff like that.”
Cross Coder co-founder, Jason Hill highlighted that they were immediately impressed with Bonner’s ability to kick goals and see the 31-year-old bringing a wealth of experience to the GWS Giants.
“Yvonne showed in our practice match that her ability to attack the football and kick goals will bring an instant impact to the Giants forward line. She is a true professional and will bring experience, albeit not in AFL, to the team.
“We’ve loved having Yvonne around the group and she made and instant impression on us. We’re so proud of her and cannot wait to see how she performs for GWS in the upcoming season.”
Giants head-coach, Alan McConnell, who fans will be aware of from the recent TG4 documentary about Staunton, admitted to identifying Bonner as a potential recruit at the recent Cross Coder trial in Melbourne.
“It’s fun, it’s great for our footy club and exciting for our playing list to add more talent like this.
“In Gaelic Games she plays a similar role to that of a forward, a goal kicking forward.
“Because of her endurance she plays a bit higher, she’s probably more of a traditional centre half forward in that sense.”
Wow, the number of Irish women making the switch to AFL has doubled in the last day. Don’t be surprised if more announcements are to follow.
