A match made in heaven

CARLTON vice-captain Katie Loynes will do everything she can to lift her side into the AFLW Grand Final when they host Fremantle at Ikon Park today.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.”

Loynes said she was confident Carlton could challenge a Fremantle outfit that won two more games than them during the regular season and scored close to 100 more points.