POIGNANT TRIBUTE
The Gold Coast Suns don’t enter the AFLW until 2020 but the wheels are already in motion. TOM BOSWELL reports on the city’s plans and the Gold Coast products who are ready to make their mark this year.
THREE simple letters will inspire Gold Coast product Kalinda Howarth when she makes her AFLW debut this weekend.
The 18-year-old will play with the word MUM written on her wristband as a tribute to her late mother Vikki.
Howarth was eight years old when Vikki died of an aneurysm just two weeks before Christmas in 2007.
She never got to see her daughter play Australian rules but she remains the Brisbane Lions forward’s greatest inspiration.
KALINDA Howarth’s mother Vikki never got to see her daughter play Australian rules but she remains the Brisbane Lions forward’s greatest inspiration ahead of her AFLW debut.
In the heat of a contest and needing a spark, Howarth glances down at her wrist to see the word MUM and it’s all the 18-year-old needs to carry on.
“I usually write her name down on my wrist, just for that extra bit of motivation or inspiration,” Howarth said.
“If I do a bad kick or something I look down and see her name and it motivates me to go that little bit harder.”
Howarth was eight years old when Vikki died of an aneurysm just two weeks before Christmas in 2007.
“It was very sudden,” Howarth said. “I was speaking to her on Sunday night and by Monday morning she was in ICU (intensive care unit) so I never got to talk to her again.”
Vikki was the one who encouraged Kalinda, who was playing soccer at the time, to play contact sport – albeit rugby league – but one of the newest Lions said she would have been proud of her transition into footy.
“Unfortunately she never got to see me play contact sport but I’m sure she would be just as proud of me today,” Howarth said.
Brisbane’s season opener will be a grand final replay against Adelaide at Norwood Oval on Saturday.
Howarth’s father Ray Howarth will be on hand for the game along with his fiancee Lindsey Schutz, who Howarth described as a guardian throughout her life.
Howarth, drafted by the Lions with pick 31 last year, is one of five Gold Coasters on Brisbane’s list. The others are Leah Kaslar, Ruby Blair, Jamie Stanton and Arianna Clarke.
The move of big-name key forward Tayla Harris from Brisbane to Carlton has left an opening in the Lions’ forward line and Howarth wants to make the most of it.
Howarth said no one could fill the big shoes left by Harris but they may not need to. The 167cm talent plays a different brand of football to Harris and she said the Lions would likely do the same with her gone.
“We have changed our team dynamics because Tayla was such a dominant forward so the game plan was basically structured around her,” Howarth said.
“All us little key players have a different role to play and it’s just about how we work the team around that.”
Howarth said Harris had been an inspiration to her ever since they played together in the Queensland under-18 team in 2015.