LEAHY IS A ‘FAIR’ BOSS, SAYS ROWE
SARAH ROWE is in the middle of a training plan set out by Collingwood as the Mayo star is the latest footballer to be snapped up by the AFL women’s league. It gives her an opportunity to put a difficult season at county level behind her.
The repercussions from the row that tore ladies football in Mayo apart — when 12 players and two of the backroom team left midseason — are still being felt, but Rowe says that manager Peter Leahy would have no problem welcoming back the squad members who departed.
‘It has been a difficult few months for us all,’ Rowe admitted yesterday after speaking at the launch of the new 20x20 campaign which aims to increase participation in, and coverage of, women’s sport. ‘But we are already getting structures in place for next season and I think it will be a very good set-up. There won’t be any stone left unturned. We will make sure of that.
Rowe conceded it had been a testing period as the team were in the headlines for the wrong reasons and the negativity has lingered with Carnacon’s appeal to the punishment meted out by the Mayo ladies board.
‘It was challenging but we had to focus on ourselves and mind each other,’ said Rowe. ‘[We had to tell ourselves that], we would get through this, things would pass, another story would come along and this would no longer matter. I think it has passed. I don’t think we will ever be through anything as tough. We are glad to see it behind us.’
And if the eight Carnacon players, including Cora Staunton, Sarah Tierney and Orla Conlon, who removed themselves from the squad at the start of July, made themselves available next season, Rowe says that the players would happily support whatever decision manager Leahy would make.
‘At the end of the day, the manager picks the best team. It’s his decision,’ Rowe said. ‘We don’t care as long as it’s the best team possible for Mayo. And everyone involved wants to be involved. Everyone deserves a chance to play for Mayo.
‘Dublin have been the standardbearers. They have made the standards better. And we all have to strive to catch them. Losing players hasn’t helped our cause. It will take an awful lot of hard work to get up to that level. We’d look forward to young players coming in. Peter Leahy is an extremely fair manager. No matter who comes into the dressing room, a 16-year-old or a 25-yearold, we are all treated the same. Everyone has a chance. And that’s what’s refreshing about this season going forward. A lot of new girls coming in believe they have a chance.’
Before next term, Rowe will experience life as a professional athlete as she travels to Australia on November 2 to become an AFL player with Collingwood after impressing in recent trials.
Rowe looked at number of different clubs and Collingwood made the best impression on her.
‘I visited six clubs and it was great to get a sense of what they were about and their professional set-ups. For me, in three of the six clubs, we were treated the exact same as the men’s teams,’ she added. ‘In Collingwood, they have the same S&C coaches, access to gym 24-7 and same facilities as the men. Things are kept under the one roof. Playing professional is going to be a massive learning environment for me and I am going to relish it.’
Rowe will go to Melbourne for seven weeks of pre-season before returning home for Christmas on December 22. ‘I go back then on January 6 until the end of March. So I will be gone for another ten weeks,’ she said.
‘It’s a really short season. If I wasn’t able to go over and come back and play for my county, I wouldn’t be going because Mayo is my priority. It is what I have grown up to do and they are the people I really care about. This will be a massive challenge in learning how to play a new game.’
Collingwood have placed her on a six-day-a-week, twice-daily programme.
‘I already feel much more tired that I would normally be from the training I do here. I am already learning, but there’s lot more to learn, kicking the ball and even hopping the ball, there is a technique to that.’
Rowe is one of four footballers who will play in next year’s AFLW season. Cora Staunton is going back for a second term with Great Western Sydney Giants where she will be joined by Donegal’s Yvonne Bonner while Clare’s Ailish Considine will play with Adelaide Crows.