www.ntnews.com.au Friday, February 7, 2014. NT NEWS. 23

PU

B:

NTNE-WS-DA-TE:7-FEGE:23 CO-LO-R: C-M Y-K

FOOTBALL

By JESSWEBSTER

THE AFL has it eyes on starWaratahs forward Abbey Hol-mes ahead of her history-making goal quest in theNTFL women’s competitionthis weekend.

Holmes needs two moremajors against Tracy Villagetomorrow to become thefirst player from an estab-lished women’s league in thecountry to kick 100 goals in asingle season.

The AFL’s national femaledevelopment manager, JanCooper, said Holmes’ achieve-ment makes a ‘‘very compel-ling case’’ for the 23-year-old

to be drafted by Melbourne orthe Western Bulldogs, whichcreated women’s teams forthe first time last year.

‘‘Abbey and her teammatesshould feel justifiably proudof this incredible milestone,’’she said. ‘‘Kicking 100 goalsmakes for a very compellingcase for the AFL clubs to takenotice of her.

‘‘When AFLNT provide vi-sion of her in action this willhelp her cause, too.

‘‘It would be so excitinghaving an NT representative(at AFL level).’’

Holmes’ 100-goal effort haseven drawn praise from Terr-itory legend Andrew McLeodand Sydney Swans champion

Warwick Capper. McLeodtweeted, ‘‘Good luck Abbey,crack that ton. #showingth-eboyshowitsdone #awesom-eeffort #territorytough,’’while Capper wrote, ‘‘goodluck @abbeycholmes! i kick-ed 100 in red and white too.great effort! enjoy it -WizZ.’’

AFLNT will schedule aNTFL Women’s All Starsclash in April and send foot-age to the two AFL clubs.

The inaugural nationalwomen’s draft and AFL wom-en’s match was held last yearbetween the Demons andBulldogs in a one-off curtain-raiser at the MCG in June.

Territorian BronwynDavey, the older sister of for-

mer Demons star Aaron, waschosen by Melbourne lastyear from Greenacres inSouth Australia with pickNo. 49 under the family rule.

Cooper said selectors werekeen to cast the net far andwide with the long-term viewof creating a fully-fledgedAFL women’s competition infuture years.

‘‘The selection process for2014 will be much more rigor-ous and provides the bestplatform for players from oth-er states to compete forplaces,’’ she said.

‘‘This year will see a mini-mum of 24 places up forselection so there is a real op-portunity for the likes of Ab-

bey and others in the Territ-ory to aspire towards gaininga draft position.’’

Cindy Farinosi (Innaloo) in1997 and Kelly Lutey (Carlis-le) in 1992 unofficially sur-passed 100 goals in the WestAustralian Women’s FootballLeague, prior to the compe-tition using unmodified rules.

The league, which startedwith four teams and played15-a-side on a modified ovalover 14 rounds, was unable tolocate its exact goal-kickingtallies on record.

South Australian-born Hol-mes has broken several re-cords in the NTFL compe-tition since pulling on theboots for the first time in the

2012-13 season. She kicked themost goals in a women’sseason last year with 67 —including nine in the War-riors’s grand final win over StMarys — in her first fullseason of senior football.

Holmes also broke the re-cord for most goals in a singlegame (12) in Round 1 beforesetting the bar even higherwith 16 during a 202-0 maul-ing of Southern Districts inRound 6.

She has averaged 7.5 goalsper game from her 13 matchesthis season.

Waratahs take on theRazorbacks at 12.15pmat Tracy Village SportsClub tomorrow.

Chapman’s appetite for game impresses Dons

PaulChapman

COACH Mark Thompsonknew just what Essendonwere getting when theythrew an AFL lifeline toPaul Chapman.

The Bombers’ players — in-cluding some awestruckyoungsters — are now alsofully aware what the triple-premiership star brings tothe table.

Chapman made his seniordebut at Geelong in 2000 —Thompson’s first year at thehelm with the Cats.

Their hugely-successfulpartnership at the Catteryyielded 199 games and 264goals for Chapman, alongwith a Norm Smith Medal, abest-and-fairest award, twoAll-Australian selections andtwo flags. The rugged forwardalso claimed a third premier-ship at Geelong in 2011, underThompson’s replacementChris Scott.

But when the Cats decidedto move the ultra-competitiveChapman on at the end of last

season, it was no surprise itwas the Bombers who camecalling under Thompson,standing in for a year ascoach in place of the sus-pended James Hird.

‘‘Chappy hasn’t lost any-thing in his ability to play,’’Thompson said.

‘‘But the key thing for him,as it is for anyone who getsolder, is if his body is going tobe able to do it over the dur-ation of a season. I think if wemanage him, it will.’’

Hamstring injuries limitedChapman to just eight gamesin 2013, although signifi-cantly that included a match-winning four-goal effort inthe semi-final win over PortAdelaide which turned out tobe his swan song for the Cats.

Thompson compared Chap-man — now a 32-year-old vet-eran of 251 games — with oth-er old stagers such as ever-green Essendon teammateDustin Fletcher and formerCarlton great Craig Bradley,

who played at the top leveluntil he was 38.

‘‘Those guys are mentallyup for the game,’’ said Thomp-son. ‘‘They like comingto training.

‘‘They don’t necessarilylike the weights or they don’tnecessarily like the recoverysessions or the stretching, butthey do them because theirappetite to play is really high.

‘‘With Chappy, when wemet with him you could justtell that he wanted to play.’’