DONEGAL STAR FORWARD Yvonne Bonner will join Cora Staunton at Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants for the 2019 AFLW season after she became the second Irish player to sign a pro deal Down Under today.
31-year-old Bonner, like Clare’s Ailish Considine who has linked up with Adelaide, penned a rookie contract off the back of the CrossCoders trial camp.
11 Irish athletes traveled to Melbourne last week as part of a group of 18 vying for coveted deals ahead of the Australian league’s third season — and obviously impressed.
Bonner, this week nominated for a second All-Star award, will become the second Irish woman to don the Giants jersey, following in Staunton’s footsteps.
“For this to actually come true, it’s like a dream, I suppose, to know that I’m the next Irish girl to come out after Cora,” the attacking ace said.
“I play full forward back home for Donegal, so I’ll play quite similar. It’ll just take a while to get used to the different ways of marking and stuff like that.”
Giants head coach Alan McConnell added: “It’s fun, it’s great for our footy club and exciting for our playing list to add more talent like this.
Welcome to @GWSGIANTS Yvonne! #internationalrookie #beGIANT pic.twitter.com/yYv0Upf8I1
— CrossCoders (@CrossCodersCo) September 27, 2018
“In the Gaelic game she plays a similar role to that of a forward, a goal-kicking forward. Because of her endurance she plays a bit higher, (so) she’s probably more of a traditional centre half-forward in that sense.”
Cavan native Laura Corrigan Duryea was the first Irish representative in the AFLW, plying her trade with Melbourne from the inaugural season.
Staunton joined her last year and in recent weeks, Sarah Rowe has signed for Collingwood with Bonner and Considine sealing moves today.
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