FINDING out you’re making your AFLW debut can elicit a range of emotions.
FOR Stephanie Williams there were tears, while Olivia Barber was rendered speechless.
Most importantly, another two of Geelong’s 2020 draftees will make their first appearance in the Hoops at the elite level in Saturday’s clash with Collingwood at Victoria Park.
They become the Cats’ second and third debutants after Darcy Moloney was given her opportunity in last week’s loss to North Melbourne.
Williams was having an ice bath following training on Thursday night when she was summoned to a meeting room by coach Paul Hood.
When she arrived, the 27th pick in the draft was greeted by her Mum on a laptop screen.
“I was just like, “G’day Mum. Hi. How are you?”, Williams said.
“She was up north just sitting in the bushes, and she was like, “what’s going on?”. I said, “I don’t have any idea”.
“Hoody then said, “I’m glad your both here. I just wanted to let you know Steph’s playing her first game on the weekend against Collingwood”.
“I was just stoked. And (there were) some tears and my Mum was just so happy. She was like, “Oh, that’s good”.
“We were just so excited, and I think everyone’s really excited up north. And, I’m super excited to put the Hoops on and give it a red-hot crack.”
Former junior basketball star Barber, who the Cats picked from the Murray Bushrangers with their third selection (no.21 overall), struggled to find the words to describe her selection.
“I got told by Hoody to come and see him for a little catch-up five minutes after training, and I was waiting in the lounge upstairs for a little bit,” Barber said.
“Then he pulled me into a room, and he told me (I was playing)
“I’m kind of speechless right now because it’s so hard talking about it because, in the moment, I was so speechless.
“Then he basically said, “you’re playing this weekend”, and I basically sat there, started crying, and was pretty speechless because I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time.
“It’s finally come around, and I’m trying to calm my nerves and excitement about it because I’m that overwhelmed with happiness.”
Hood said both Williams and Barber deserved their opportunity. They’ll replace defender Millie Brown (hamstring) and ruck/forward Rene Caris (omitted).
“Both have huge degrees of natural talent, but they’re still learning the way to set-up and play the game consistently,” Hood said.
“But, we think their great performances in the VFLW show that they deserve an opportunity at AFLW level.
“Steph’s extremely explosive – one of the fastest players we’ve seen play, and we’re hoping that she can bring some forward pressure for us and really put Collingwood under the pump.
“And Olivia’s a terrific contested mark, another great athlete – a very good aerobic runner for her size, and with her basketball background, she’s a very good ball-handler.
“One of the things she did that impressed us the most last week was compete at ground level.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
