Army - The Soldiers' Newspaper

PTI takes aim at Irish game
Volume 11, No. 47, July 13, 2006
By Barry Rollings

Testing times: Cpl Emma Hender, judged best player at the women’s national Australian football carnival, has been selected to try out for the Australian team to play in Ireland. Photo by Cpl Mike McSweeney

IT’S all eyes on Ireland for Duntroon PTI Cpl Emma Hender after a busy week at the recent women’s national Australian football carnival in Sydney.

Cpl Hender was chosen for the training squad for the Australian international rules team to play Ireland in Dublin and Galway between October 20 and November 7.

To qualify first she will have to prove her mettle at a special training school in Melbourne on August 12 when the squad will be refined from 60 to 25 players.

Legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy will attend the day’s activities, which will include a fitness test, drills, match practice and an assessment of players’ game sense.

“I can’t wait, I am so excited. I am going to do everything in my power to get into the team,” Cpl Hender said.

If experience and carnival form are any criteria, Cpl Hender should be among the first selected.

At the recent Sydney carnival she was judged the Player of the Carnival – not a bad effort for a player who has been on the injured list and was still seeing a physiotherapist at the time of interview.

This was her fifth national carnival and this year she captained the ADF team after being vice-captain from 2001-04.

She was selected in the All Australian team when playing for the ADF at the national carnival in 2003 in Darwin and 2004 in Adelaide but this is the first time the carrot of overseas honours has been in the mix.

A 156cm rover, she is passionate about the game.

“I love Aussie rules,” she said. “But I only really began playing Australian football after I joined the Army.”

Originally from SA, one of Australian football’s heartland states, she grew up in Cambrai playing netball. Her entry to Australian football was with nine female Army colleagues playing for an Army side against a Queensland club side.