Punt on Staunton is a calculated one, insists Walsh

CORA STAUNTON wasn’t the only new face in the Great Western Sydney Giants dressing room this past week. And she wasn’t the only player who had crossed over from a different sporting code. On the same day that everyone in Ireland became aware of the AFL Women’s (AFLW), the club also announced they had secured the services of Jodie Hicks, a professional cricketer who plays for Sydney Sixers in the women’s Big Bash League.

When the AFLW was established, one of its aims was to try and entice female players who had drifted away from the game in favour of other sports. Hicks is an example. Until she was 14, she was considered a top AFL prospect in her hometown of Hay in rural New South Wales.

However, learning a completely new sport at 34 is one reason why there has been a degree of scepticism about Staunton’s move.

‘It’s a gamble,’ admits former Cavan footballer Nicholas Walsh, who works with GWS Giants. ‘It’s a gamble from our point of view and a gamble from Cora’s point of view. If it works, brilliant. If not, at least we tried.

‘But I want to emphasise that this is not the start of AFL clubs raiding Ladies football county teams in Ireland for players. This is not the start of a recruitment drive.

‘Cora’s situation is unique. She is a unique athlete with a particular skill-set that will benefit her younger players,’ Walsh explains.

The eight-team league kicks off in February. Staunton will play a few inter-club trials before then, having come a long way from when Walsh lightheartedly suggested to her at the Asian GAA Games in Shanghai last November that she should try out for the AFLW.

Traditionally, most Gaelic players are deployed in defence when they take up Aussie Rules but Staunton is likely to play as a forward.

‘I envisage her playing similar to how she has played for Mayo in the past few years, close to goal,’ Walsh said. ‘The dynamics with Cora are different to an Irish schoolboy coming over. She is only here for a short spell, not for the long haul. Young Gaelic footballers are generally played as backs because it is easier to learn the basics of the game when you are facing the ball.’

Staunton won’t be the only Irish woman playing in the AFLW. Former Cavan player Laura Corrigan Dunyea starred for Melbourne Demons in the inaugural season and is back for a second term.

Melbourne only just missed out on the AFLW’s Grand final by a narrow margin. Corrigan has been in Australia for a decade, after initially arriving on a working holiday visa. She is looking forward to sharing the field with a legend of ladies Gaelic football.

‘It is a great opportunity for Cora and I think there could be more opportunities for Gaelic players here,’ Corrigan said. ‘It’s true that they have to learn a different game but when I started, I didn’t get too hung up on the shape of the ball and tried to learn the other basics of the game.’

When Corrigan joined Melbourne, she was given the number 11 jersey in honour of the late Jim Stynes, a legend at the club. A lot to live up to. Last year, in an effort to build up crowd numbers, the AFL allowed spectators into games for free, with television rights covering the costs for clubs – all AFLW games are broadcast on television.

Salaries are nothing like in the men’s AFL, where the average wage is over $300,000 a year. Contracts are tiered from $8,500 up to $25,000 for the top players. Staunton is likely to earn somewhere near the bottom of the scale, given the nature of the gamble.

But Walsh is confident that it’s one that might pay off. Even between her first kickaround last Tuesday to her third on Thursday, improvement in her kicking style was noted.

She may have been signed to guide the younger players of the GWS Giants, but given her career to date, it might not be a surprise to see Cora Staunton’s name near the top of the AFLW scoring charts by the end of the second season.