‘HE WAS SO small.’ That only added to the reason Carthach Keane was terrified.
His voice is charged with emotion as he recalls the ordeal. All he knew was that his partner, Bríd Stack, was in the back of an ambulance having suffered a serious neck injury and their toddler son Ogie was left vulnerable. At that moment he was without his mother. The question was, for how long?
Speaking in a new Disney+ AFLW documentary Fearless, Stack and Keane chart their journey to Australia. How they met in college. When Carthach eventually won her over. What she achieved during an incredibly successful Cork career. How it ultimately led to a move Down Under to join GWS Giants.
And why it came close to a disastrous conclusion in the first practice match. In the final quarter, Stack fractured her C7 vertebra in a collision with Adelaide midfielder Ebony Marinoff. What would ultimately sideline for the 2021 AFLW season first looked much more serious. Compounded by the worry they both had for their son.
“I can’t thank my teammates enough for what they did that day. Because they’d known me for two weeks, but they looked after him like he was their own. That was wonderful,” Stack recalls in the emotional footage.
What is immediately striking is the psychological and emotional toll it took. And yet, she went back at it. The defender didn’t have to return to AFL. The surgeon said her playing career was over. Stack wasn’t an active inter-county star plucked from a burgeoning competition to join a new one. She’d already closed that chapter. The prospect of a lengthy and in-time lucrative career wasn’t realistic for the 35-year-old.
But she went back. Predominately, justifiably, because she wanted her chance.
“I suppose people might say it’s a bit mad. But this is an opportunity of a lifetime and I get to do it with my husband and my son. I just want to grab it with two hands.”
22 different Irish players will line out in the AFLW this season. They are a rich and varied group. Some are considerable losses to the LGFA. Others wouldn’t be playing for their county even if the league in Australia didn’t exist.
There are those who were recruited, and there are those who went looking for the opportunity. And those who overcame enormous obstacles on the way to realising it.
“I left Australia when Covid came in 2020,” explains Down’s Clara Fitzpatrick. “St Kilda made it clear I would be welcome back but then I encountered so many problems. Between never-ending visa issues and injuring my ACL last year, I thought I would never get back.”
That season the now 31-year-old had carved out a role as a key defender in the side before the pandemic ground everything to a halt. Fitzpatrick moved to Melbourne in 2016 and initially spent her free time playing Gaelic football with local club Sinn Fein. Later she took up Australian Rules, graduating from the local league to the VFLW reserves to the Saints AFLW programme.
Then she encountered visa issues and missed the following campaign. Then she tore her ACL, for the third time, and missed another. The club stayed in contact. Her number 24 guernsey remained untouched. Finally, earlier this year, she made her return.
“I never lost faith in the club. They were incredible from the get-go. Keeping in touch over the two years, checking on me. They were just amazing. I am forever grateful for that. Even the fact that they kept the number 24 was a big thing for me. From day one, they were so supportive.”
In the meantime, the league has expanded to 18 teams. St Kilda recruited another Irish player, Mayo’s Grace Kelly. In May average player salaries increased by 94% across the board. Participation levels are booming. Standards are on the rise. Is that level of change exciting or daunting?
“A bit of both,” Fitzpatrick says with a laugh. “Moreso exciting really. Obviously, there is a bit of nerves with the unknown. New teams and changes in personnel. It should be interesting anyway.”
Joanne Doonan is also making her return to Australia after an unexpected end. Three years ago, she attended a CrossCoders trial in Athlone. Carlton were interested, there were some initial conversations but no offer. There was an invitation for a trip to the club without any promise of a deal.
She was Fermanagh’s captain and it was in the middle of championship. So, she flew to Australia for three blurry days with the Blues and returned home.
In 2020 she signed for Carlton, played until the pandemic landed and sent her home. There she helped Fermanagh to All-Ireland junior glory and made plans for the 2021 season. Suddenly, her spot was gone.
“There were weeks between being told I was going to be signed back on to being told, ‘sorry, no you are not. Someone else came available.’ That is the reality of professional sport.
“That stalled the AFL stuff for me. Then a skills coach who was at Carlton moved to Perth. He was talking to me about doing VFL (amateur second tier) out there. It sparked something, ‘maybe I will go back out.’ During Covid, Perth was really strict. I couldn’t get in. That’s why I came to Melbourne instead.
“I basically came out on a normal working holiday visa. I just did it myself. The plan was to play VFLW and hopefully, I’d get picked for AFLW. If I didn’t, I would have the rest of my working holiday to travel. I said I’d give everything, one more go before I close the door.”
A huge wager that paid off. Doonan was a sensation in the VFLW with Essendon and won a Grand Final. In the process, she earned a two-year AFLW deal.
That forged confidence and competence. Her game sense improved week on week. There was always a place at the table for extra analysis sessions with coaches and she gorged on it. That development opened her eyes to the intricacies of the new sport and spelt out where the game can go thanks to the shiny new collective bargaining agreement.
It was negotiated earlier in the year that there would be a substantial pay rise across all four payment tiers. For the first time, several local players can focus solely on AFLW football, instead of balancing demanding work and study pressures.
“I felt like I’d unfinished business and more to give. Looking back now, I’m in a better place. Even mentally, not letting things get the better of me. It was a big gamble I suppose but I’ve really benefitted from the last few weeks.
“That really helps. When you think about the league, I feel like it has to go to the next level eventually. As much as people complain about the standard, you can’t expect it to be the same as the men who are all year-round professional.
“Girls are balancing work and everything. It is like home. Some of the girls here have great jobs. If they go down to part-time, they risk losing out on promotions and there is still not much security here.
“Too much is unknown. I know I will go home at the end of this season, I’d rather stay and train for the next season but we can’t work in that timeframe on our visas and we don’t know when that season will start.”
Goals for the future? Onwards. Upwards.
“At the minute I have a two-season contract. I’ll be here for two years anyway,” Doonan says. “I need to develop myself as a player, keep pushing on.
“Really I just want to get the most out of it while I’m here.”
