ART EXHIBITIONS, engagements, renovations and lots and lots of travel. Our AFLW have been a busy bunch over the summer break.
Check out what players from your team have been up to during their time off.
Adelaide
Danielle Ponter has been travelling around the USA with her fiancé Nate, visiting Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York amongst other places.
Zoe Prowse, Lily Tarlinton and Port Adelaide’s Jasmin Stewart travelled to Banff in Canada to go snowboarding, and co-captain Sarah Allan has also had an adventure holiday in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Star midfielder Anne Hatchard has been busy transforming her backyard shed into a gym with help from her dad, whilst Chelsea Randall spent time with her partner Marijana and their one-year-old son Tomi.
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Brisbane
Irish duo Orla O’Dwyer and Jennifer Dunne returned home for the break, swimming and enjoying the winter sun on the beaches in Ireland.
Belle Dawes traveled to Japan to go snowboarding at a village called Hakuba.
Back in Australia, Nat Grider had a day out at the Australian Open and Jade Ellenger, Poppy Boltz and Ellie Hampson went on a camel ride along the beach in Port Macquarie.
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Carlton
Darcy Vescio held their own art exhibition in Brunswick titled ‘That Sack of Air’. The exhibition ran for just over a week in December explored Darcy’s experience with the intricacies of Australian rules football.
Dayna Finn also went back home to Ireland, with teammate Maddy Hendrie joining her for a visit.
Keeley Sherar, Maddy Guerin, Gab Pound and Brooke Vickers spent some time camping in the beautiful Wilsons Promontory.
Former Port Adelaide player and now Blue Yasmin Duursma spent time with her boyfriend West Coast player Harley Reid and his new dog Wally.
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Collingwood
Cross-coder Sarah Rowe has been busy playing soccer for the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League Women.
Imogen Barnett, Jordyn Allen, Lauren Butler and Lucy Cronin travelled with the Magpies men’s team to the Northern Territory as part of the club’s inaugural Immersion Program trip to Tennant Creek.
Lucy Cronin also travelled to Perth where she spent time with teammates Charlotte Blair, Mikayla Hyde, Ruby Schleicher and Charlotte Taylor where they visited some of WA’s stunning coastline.
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Essendon
Brooke Walker and Bonnie Toogood headed overseas to Japan where they took in the sights, visiting the Shibuya Crossing, the deer park in Nara and the temples in Kyoto. They then travelled to Sri Lanka for some beach time, where they met elephants and went bike riding.
Alexandra Morcom and Amelia Radford learnt how to cook in Vietnam, whilst also having some well-earned time on the beach.
Georgia Nanscawen spent some time in nature, hiking in the wilderness at Mt Buller.
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Fremantle
Gabby Newton travelled to England and Ireland and spent time with former Bulldogs teammates Izzy Huntington and Eleanor Brown.
Laura Pugh went on a safari in Sri Lanka with former Fremantle teammate now West Coast Eagle Matilda Sergeant.
Ebony Antonio and wife Kara went on holiday with their dogs to Esperance in southern Western Australia, where they enjoyed its beautiful beaches and white sand.
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Geelong
Captain Meg McDonald was another player to head to Sri Lanka, where she spent time visiting ancient cities, elephants and tea plantations.
Julia Crockett-Grills celebrated her son Lenny’s first birthday and gun forward Chloe Scheer is back up and running, literally, having missed the whole 2024 season with a toe injury.
A number of Cats also had a day out at the tennis, with Becky Webster, Chantal Mason, Rachel Kearns, Georgie Prespakis and Zali Friswell enjoying festivities on Grand Slam Oval at the Australian Open.
Bella Smith, Bryde O’Rourke and Caitlin Thorne spent some time in Bali where they went to the beach, trained at the gym, drank cocktails and got tattoos.
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Gold Coast
Katie Lynch had some wholesome family time, spending the day at Melbourne’s National Gallery Victoria with her Nan.
Claudia Whitfort travelled to Europe and took in the sights, visiting tourist destinations the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Louvre, and teammate Darcie Davies also went to Europe with her sisters.
Clara Fitzgerald participated in the Australasian Regional Championships of Gaelic football in Hobart in Tasmania, where her team the Gold Coast Gaels won the tournament.
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Greater Western Sydney
Former captain Alicia Eva announced that she and her fiancé Claudia are expecting a baby, whilst also on the baby front, Chloe Dalton and her partner Riley spent time with their newborn Fred.
Jessica Doyle, Kaitlyn Srhoj and Mikayla Pauga were another group to travel to Bali, enjoying the food and beaches.
Star midfielder Alyce Parker has been keeping fit on her farm in Cookardinia, New South Wales, and DJ Georgia Garnett has been behind the decks at festivals this summer.
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Hawthorn
Emily Bates celebrated her dog Tuck’s first birthday, holding a party for him that was attended by Greta Bodey and Ainslie Kemp.
Ruck Lucy Wales was another player to visit Europe, heading to England, France and Germany with friends.
A number of Hawks celebrated their end of season with a trip to Bali including Jenna Richardson, Jas Fleming, Jess Vukic, Aine McDonagh, Laura Elliott, Kaitlyn Ashmore and Tamara Smith.
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Melbourne
Shelley Heath celebrated her engagement to partner Lachlan Barker, while Maeve Chaplin has been busy, travelling to India with her parents and also spending some time on the Gold Coast with Tyla Hanks, Olivia Purcell and Kate Hore.
Tayla Harris has been training hard, hanging out with her two dogs and has taken up golf.
Captain Kate Hore spent time in Adelaide with her partner Corey and their golden retriever Benny.
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North Melbourne
Ash Riddell travelled to Mexico with her husband where they ate tacos, enjoyed street art, went swimming and saw the El Castillo temple.
Back at home Libby Birch went water skiing in Bundalong in Northern Victoria with former teammate and current West Coast coach Daisy Pearce and her kids, while Kate Shierlaw and Emma Kearney did a road trip along the beaches of Western Australia.
Eliza Shannon saw the big lobster in Kingston, South Australia while camping along the coast.
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Port Adelaide
Julia Teakle, Gemma Houghton, Sachi Syme, Ella Boag and others celebrated their end of season with a trip to the Gold Coast.
Matilda Scholz spent some time on the beaches in Perth, and Molly Brooksby did a road trip along Australia’s east coast with her sister.
As mentioned previously, Jasmin Stewart went snowboarding in Banff Canada with Adelaide Crows players Lily Tarlinton and Zoe Prowse.
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Richmond
Ruck Poppy Kelly travelled to South America with her mum, visiting Brazil and Argentina, before travelling south to Antarctica where they went kayaking and saw penguins, seals and whales.
2024 AFLW Best and Fairest winner Mon Conti made her debut for Geelong United in the WNBL.
Katie Brennan, Sarah Hosking, Maddie Shevlin, Brooke Lochland, Tessa Lavey went to Byron Bay to celebrate former teammate’s Megan Kiely’s 30th birthday.
Montana McKinnon returned to Adelaide to spend Christmas with her family and friends.
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St Kilda
Nicola Stevens had a sunrise engagement with her partner Elise in the country.
Captain Hannah Priest spent Christmas in France with her family, whilst new recruit Charlotte Baskaran spent the festive season in Bali.
Another new recruit Nicola Barr travelled to Europe with her partner Lloyd for his 30th birthday, where she met up with former teammates Cora Staunton and Brid Stack with Tarni Evans for a tour of Ireland.
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Sydney
Chloe Molloy began running after 112 days in a step closer to her return from an ACL injury. The Sydney co-captain also went to New Zealand with partner, Brisbane’s Jade Ellenger, where they experienced a helicopter ride, went fishing and had a sauna at Lake Hawea.
Bec Privitelli went on a mountain bike adventure through the Jagungal Wilderness in the Snowy Mountains of Kosciuszko National Park with former teammate Cambridge McCormick.
Lulu Pullar did a road trip to central Australia and witnessed some amazing landscapes, and All-Australian defender Brenna Tarrant went hiking in Nepal.
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West Coast
Bella Lewis went to Milan and Lake Como in Italy, as well as Paris and Amsterdam and saw the amazing Northern Lights in Finland, while teammate Belinda Smith was also overseas in Vietnam.
Jess Hosking went fishing for lobster at Rottnest Island and attended the MCG for the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India.
Coach Daisy Pearce ran an impromptu marathon at home and took part in the inaugural Ash Barty Foundation invitational golf tournament with former teammate Tayla Harris.
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Western Bulldogs
Mua Laloifi sat down with ABC Pacific to talk about her journey as the first Samoan woman to play AFLW.
Best-and-fairest winner Isabel Pritchard travelled to India while teammate Naomi Ferres went to Japan.
Ellie Blackburn and Alice Edmonds spent time relaxing in Bali, while Ellie Gavalas spent Christmas in Hobart with her family and Kelpie puppy Olive, before also travelling to Japan.
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