From footy field to down the aisle

VICE captain Katie Loynes will do everything she can to lift Carlton into the AFLW grand final when they host Fremantle at Ikon Park tomorrow.

She just hopes she is still Kara Donnellan’s bridesmaid at the end of it.

As they prepare to go headto-head in the preliminary final, Loynes revealed Donnellan was one of her closest friends and that she was set for a role in the Dockers skipper’s wedding to fellow star Ebony Antonio in October.

“I’m actually bridesmaid in Kara’s wedding coming up, so we had a bit of a joke at the start of the year that it would be funny, because we knew we weren’t playing against each other during the season, if we came up against one another in a final,” Loynes said.

“Now that that’s happening it’s pretty remarkable.

“We’ve had a lot of matches against each other over the years, but we’ve still remained friends.”

The pair, who played football together in Victoria about a decade ago, have shared notes with each other all season, given their teams were drawn in different conferences and they knew they wouldn’t meet before the finals.

“Throughout the year we’ve been helping each other, giving each other a bit of a heads-up on the opponent.

“Now we’re not talking this week, so it’s funny.

“We’re both very competitive so we’ll shake hands, have a little bit of a giggle at the time and then straight into hoping our team gets over the line at the end of the game.”