Georgia Patrikios, who played her 100th game of Aussie Rules football last weekend, is one of thousands of young girls excited by the announcement that a national women’s competition will start in 2017.
The 15-year-old, who was taught to kick playing in the park with her father and brother, can now realistically dream of playing AFL football for her beloved Carlton when she is old enough.
The Blues will be one of eight clubs to play in the first year of the new competition, which was announced by the AFL last week.
“I’m hoping to go to Carlton ,” Patrikios said last week.
“Lauren Arnell, who helps out at Calder Cannons’ girls side, is involved at Carlton and I’d love to play with her.”
Patrikios played 92 games of local footy with West Coburg in the EDFL junior competition before moving to girls-only football with Pascoe Vale’s youth side.
“It’s hard to explain how I feel,” she said.
“It’s a good feeling to know I’d played that many games.
“Now it’s a lot harder. Girls aren’t afraid to tackle, where a lot of boys avoid tackling girls.”
The move to the youth girl’s competition has also seen a change of position for Patrikios.
“I used to play on the wing but now I’m playing more in the middle,” she said.
“I can use my skill and pace and I feel like I can help out our defenders and forwards more.”
As well as joining the Western youth girl’s competition, Patrikios also tried out for the Cannons girls’ team.
She was successful at her first attempt and was best on ground in one of the side’s matches earlier this year.
“It’s good to play with the best players and i know I can improve my game playing against the other girls playing TAC Cup,” Patrikios said.
“After playing my 100th game the Cannons coach, who is also involved with Vic Metro, said he thought I had a bright future in football.”
