Jessie
Mulholland and Madison Giffin made a triumphant return to AFL on Friday
night, leading the Figtree Kangaroos to a dominant win in the first
game of the new Illawarra Youth Girls' competition at North Dalton Park.
The
new competition began in spectacular fashion with a double-header and
star-studded ceremony to mark the beginning of the all-girls'
competition.
Mulholland and Giffin
were banned from playing against boys last season, but the resulting
fight to have them reinstated was the catalyst for the new league.
The pair made the most of their return, kicking three goals each in their sides' 11.6 (72) to 0.0 (0) win against Albion Park.
They were well supported by April Maciejowski, who had the honour of kicking the first goal of the new competition.
Mulholland
was obviously happy with the result, but said she was thrilled to meet
some of the celebrity supporters in attendance.
"It was really exciting, we got to meet Christine Anu because she sang the national anthem for us," she said.
The Kangaroos showed they will be a force to be reckoned with this year, but Mulholland said they still have some work to do.
"We
played with teamwork- that was pretty much it," she said. "Everyone on
the team played well they tried really, really hard. But I think
our communication skills could be better - a bit more talking might
help us."
In the other match, Shellharbour Swans used an explosive opening term to break open their game against Dapto Eagles.
The Swans kicked the first three majors of the match on their way to a 4.1 (25) to 0.2 (2) victory.
Captains
Emma Carberry and Cherise Lomas led the way for Shellharbour and were
well supported by Caroline Saliou, Belinda Harvey, Taegan Grenfell and
Talarah Bell.
Natalie Naronha was the leading goal-kicker for the Swans with four goals.