Check out the Irish players in the Women's Aussie Rules on TG4
Although there will not be any Meath footballers involved, local sports enthusiasts will have an opportunity to see players from Mayo, Dublin, Tipperary, Leitrim and Cavan in action next weekend in the Australian Football League Women's (AFLW) first round.
TG4 has announced that the station will broadcast weekly matches and highlights from the upcoming Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) season.
The NAB AFL Women’s competition begins on the last weekend of January with 14 teams battling it out over twelve weekends to see who will reach the Grand Final in April.
The agreement between TG4 and the Australian Football League (AFL) will see matches broadcast deferred each weekend as well as weekly highlights.
The coverage will begin on TG4 on Saturday 30th January at 5.10pm (the full schedule for February is below).
There will be 14 Irish players in this season's NAB AFL Women’s Competition which is Australia's national semi-professional Australian Rules Football league for female players.
The first season of the league in 2017 had eight teams.
The league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season and to 14 teams last year.
The league is run by the Australian Football League (AFL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition.
Last week all the attention was on Cork woman Brid Stack following the serious injury she sustained in a practice game
Her club Tweeted on Monday:
Bríd Stack has been released from hospital but is set to be sidelined following an incident in a tackle during yesterday's practice match.
Irish players confirmed for the 2021 season are as follows:
Grace Kelly (West Coast Eagles / Mayo)
Niamh Kelly (West Coast Eagles / Mayo)
Aileen Gilroy (North Melbourne / Mayo)
Sarah Rowe (Collingwood / Mayo)
Aishling Sheridan (Collingwood / Cavan)
Niamh McEvoy (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Lauren Magee (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Sinéad Goldrick (Melbourne FC / Dublin)
Aisling McCarthy (West Coast Eagles / Tipperary)
Orla O'Dwyer (Brisbane Lions / Tipperary)
Ailish Considine (Adelaide Crows / Clare)
Áine Tighe (Fremantle Dockers / Leitrim)
Cora Staunton (GWS Giants / Mayo)
Bríd Stack (GWS Giants / Cork) - injured
MATCH SCHEDULE
First round - 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 January
Second round - 5 / 6 / 7 February
Third round - 12 / 13 / 14 February
Fourth round - 19 / 20 / 21 February
Fifth round - 26 / 27 / 28 February
Sixth round- 5 / 6 / 7 March
Seventh round - 12 / 13 / 14 March
Eighth round - 19 / 20 / 21 March
Ninth round - 26 / 27 / 28 March
FIRST PLAY-OFFS
Weekend 4th April - third v sixth (A) and fourth v fifth (B).
SEMI-FINALS
Weekend 10th April - A v second (C); B v first (D)
FINAL
Saturday 17 April - C v D.
TG 4 SCHEDULE
Saturday 5.10pm; Monday 8pm.
Saturday 30th January - deferred coverage from a top first round game
Monday 1st February - highlights from the weekend first round games.
Sat 6th February - full deferred coverage from a top second round game.
Monday 8th February - highlights from the weekends second round games.
Saturday 13th February - full deferred coverage from a top third round game.
Monday 15th February - highlights from the weekend third round games
Sat 20th February - full deferred coverage from a top fourth round game
Monday 22nd February - highlights from the weekend fourth round games.
Saturday 27th February - coverage from a top fifth round game.