DYNAMIC DUO HANG UP BOOTS
THE curtains will draw on two of Tasmanian football’s most successful careers on Saturday when Nietta Lynch and Sandy Eaton finally call time on their careers.
After decorated playing careers across the TSL and SFL, the pair will pull on their beloved black and white jumper for the final time when they suit up for Claremont, fittingly in their clash against previous side
Glenorchy at KGV. The engaged couple have become mainstays within football circles, amassing quite the football CVs, but both now feel the time is right to finish their playing days.
“It’s probably been a long time coming,” Eaton said.
“We have discussed it for a while and we knew that this season was the right time to finish up.”
Eaton, the 2018 Tasmanian Women’s Footballer of the Year, says the opportunity to play alongside her partner had been a career highlight.
“Being able to finish our careers together is something special. We’ve been lucky enough to play in the same team together for 11 years,” she said.
“We met playing footy, became friends and now we’ve been together for nine years.”
Lynch, who sits in the top 10 alltime for goals kicked at KGV, echoed the sentiments of her partner.
“It means a lot to me. I’ll miss the feeling of running out each week alongside her but it’s exciting that we get to close the chapter on this aspect of our life and walk into another one together,” she said.
The pair has seen the growth of women’s football in the state throughout their playing days and Eaton believes the game will only continue to prosper even after they are gone.
“Seeing the junior competitions grow from where they were when we started to where it sits now gives me such joy knowing that women’s football is and will continue to thrive in the state,” she said.
Given the couple spent so much of their decorated careers at Glenorchy, they couldn’t be happier to walk off the ground for the final time at the place they call home.
“We are both life members at Glenorchy so for things to finish here is kind of fitting,” Lynch said.