The AFL club announced their inaugural female intake into the Gold Cost Suns Academy recently and it is stacked with talent from Cairns.

The region is renowned for producing talented female footballers, four girls from the Far North will play in the first AFL Women’s season while the Cairns Lions claimed the North Queensland Women’s AFL Championships earlier this month.

While the Suns have held a stronghold in the region through their male academy for a number of years now, this is their first intake of female players into their academy.

The Suns have included Far Northerners Grace Perry, Poppy Boltz, Nancy Matthew, Tanee Fauid, Tiarna Ahwang, Kitara Farrar and Shantel Miskin-Ripia in the squad of 30.

“This is the first time in which female players have been able to be selected in the academy as previously they have fallen into a statewide set up,” AFLQ regional manager Kieran Daley said.

“This change makes the talented player pathway clearer and more streamlined for both male and female players.”

The Suns were one of very few existing AFL clubs who did not table a bid for a AFL women’s team for the launch year, with the Brisbane Lions receiving the only Queensland-based team for 2017.

The Suns are expected to bid for a team when the league expands in the coming years.

AFL Women’s will kick off next year with a seven-match (plus Grand Final) season, with the Far North represented by Cairns’ Selina Goodman, Leah Kaslar and Breanna Koenen who will play for the Lions while Tiarna Ernst, a former Manunda player, will feature for the Western Bulldogs.

Article courtesy of Jordan Gerrans The Cairns Post November 21, 2016 9:14am Read the original story here