SIMPSON footballer Georgia Watson wanted to go one step better this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Georgia, 15, will represent Vic Country at the AFL national under 18 youth girls’ championships in Shepparton next month after playing for its development team in 2012.
“I am always learning and wanting to play at a higher level,” Georgia said.
“It would be great to come away with the title but we’ll wait and see.”
Georgia said about 60 girls attended Vic Country try-outs at Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School.
“I had to attend four training sessions and they ran from 10am to 3pm,” she said.
“They were pretty high intensity. There was a lot of fitness and work on skills and we’d do a little bit of a game so coaches could see what we were like in a game sense.”
Georgia, who represented Hampden at the V/Line Cup, said Vic Country would play four matches in five days.
The Mercy Regional College student said she hoped to play either a midfield or half-forward flank role.
“We have two full-day training sessions and we will go over structures and how we are going to play,” she said.
She said more pathways were opening up for female footballers and competition standards were increasing.
“It is awesome. Every year there are more and more country kids and more opportunities for girls to play footy,” she said. “I have academy in Ballarat every second Friday and I always do my own training and go for runs and work on my core work.”
Watson’s brothers Tom and Daniel are Cobden footballers who progressed through the TAC Cup ranks with Geelong Falcons.
Both are now in the VFL system — Tom plays for North Ballarat Roosters and Daniel is in his debut season with Northern Blues.
“That is the whole reason I am interested in football because I have been around my brothers my whole life. They always have footballs in their hands,” Georgia said.
Warrnambool’s Eve Aulsebrook was named as emergency for the under 18 national championships, which run from May 6 to 10.
![Georgia Watson Georgia Watson](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-32YZsVyv4bwfXuYu5GhvVU2/dba70349-acc0-4912-a85b-610c389c62a1.jpg/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)