The GIANTS have selected their side for Saturday’s round six clash with West Coast in Blacktown with former Geelong ruck Rene Caris named to make her GIANTS debut.
The only change from last week’s side, Caris will take her place against the Eagles after impressing since joining the club in late August in replace of youngster Meghan Gaffney who was ruled out of the entire 2023 season with an ACL injury.
Hailing from rural Victoria, Caris joined the GIANTS following a fine season in the VFLW where the 24-year-old helped Collingwood to the VFLW Grand Final.
Saturday’s clash will not be Caris’ first taste of senior AFLW football, with the 184cm ruck having played 12 games for Geelong between 2019-2022 after being taken by the Cats with pick 35 in the 2018 National Draft.
Caris comes into the team in place of promising small forward Caitlin Miller.
GIANTS coach Cam Bernasconi was thrilled to give Caris another opportunity at AFLW level and her first in orange and charcoal.
“She’s had a good month of playing in these scrimmages where she’s improved every week, so we are really excited for her to play her first game for us on Saturday,” Bernasconi said.
“She’s fit in really well within our group and the girls have loved having her come up from Melbourne.
“Her ruck craft will be a point of difference for us, and she’ll bring some real flexibility to the team.”
Bernasconi said consistency against the Eagles on Saturday would be key to the GIANTS registering their first win of the season.
“We need to continue to try and play our system for four quarters because it’s held up against the best sides in the competition for three quarters,” he said.
“It’s about making sure we can execute our system for four quarters because we need to do that on Saturday to get the result against West Coast.”
Match Details:
GIANTS v Eagles
Saturday, October 7 at 1:05pm
Blacktown International Sportspark | Darug Country
Team:
FB: Grace Hill, Pepa Randall
HB: Katherine Smith, Tarni Evans, Chloe Dalton
C: Emily Pease, Alyce Parker, Alicia Eva
HF: Brodee Mowbray, Jessica Doyle, Isabel Huntington
FF: Georgia Garnett, Zarlie Goldsworthy
RR: Fleur Davies, Nicola Barr, Haneen Zreika
Interchange: Jodie Hicks, Cambridge McCormick, Rene Caris, Ally Dallaway, Rebecca Beeson
Emergencies: Tess Cattle, Jasmine Grierson, Caitlin Miller
In: Rene Caris
Out: Caitlin Miller (omitted)
