Gee secures spot in Suns midfield
THE Gold Coast Suns’ first selection in the 2022 NAB AFLW Draft could soon challenge new teammate Lauren Bella for the club’s “Queen of Mackay” crown.
Mackay product Alana Gee, 18, was taken by the Suns with pick No.19 in Wednesday draft at Marvel Stadium.
A hard-running midfielder who looks at home both on the inside and outside, Gee is damaging by foot on either side of her body and rarely wastes a disposal.
A Gold Coast Suns Academy member, the prodigious ball winner had a representative season to remember, named Queensland MVP and earning All-Australian selection at this year’s AFLW Under-18 Championships.
Long considered a top-tier talent from the moment she first handled a Sherrin at 14, Gee once requested of her North Mackay Saints coaches she be allowed to play in the senior’s men’s side, so confident was she in her abilities.
“It was purely my love for footy. Every opportunity I got I just wanted to take it because I loved it so much … and I let my competitiveness kick in a few times,” she said.
At 16, Gee won the AFL Mackay Women’s league best and fairest by double the number of votes to the runner-up and became a universally popular figure among her peers.
With that came heady expectations that she would follow in the footsteps of Bella and fellow Mackay product Wallis Randell and land on the Suns’ AFLW list, which on Wednesday night finally became a reality.
“From the beginning everyone was supporting me,” Gee said. “It was super nice to have not just my club, but people from other clubs supporting me. It really helped me along the way.
“(Being drafted) has been a goal of mine for ages … it’s just so cool for it to now come true.”
Much of the pre-draft talk centred on top prospects nominating to leave their home states but Gee, widely considered Queensland’s best talent, said that was never a consideration for her.
“It’s too cold (further south) – I just can’t,” she laughed.
“I also love it here on the Gold Coast and I wouldn’t want to move anyway.
“A major factor in my development since I moved down (from Mackay) has been the Suns Academy. Since I’ve been here my footy has gone to another level.”
With the club’s second selection in the draft, pick No.34, the Suns added highly rated Tasmanian Claire Ransom.
Having already addressed their defensive stocks by bringing in mature-age signings Georgia Clayden, Gabrielle Biedenweg-Webster and Krystal Scott during the AFLW sign and trade period, the Suns looked inside 50 with pick No.52, adding small forward Jasmyn Smith.