AFLW vice-captain Alicia Eva and former club champion Jess Dal Pos will make their first appearances for the GIANTS’ VFLW side against Richmond on Saturday.
The GIANTS will take on the Tigers at Punt Rd at 1pm on Saturday in the second of five invitational matches the team will play in the VFLW this season.
The club’s campaign started with a bang last weekend when they defeated Williamstown by 79 points.
Eva and Dal Pos come into the side along with former GIANT Pippa Smyth and East Coast Eagle Rylee McGartland, who is the current leading goal scorer in the AFL Sydney Premier Division Women’s competition.
They’re joined by fellow Eagles Georgia Garnett and Brenna Tarrant who are both in the Under-18s NSW/ACT Youth Girls squad.
GIANTS VFLW coach Roger Moten said his side are excited to return to Melbourne for their second game in as many weeks.
"We're excited to have a quick turnaround between games and continue on from a pleasing start in game one," Moten said.
"With nine new faces in the team last week, we had a focus on our on-field connection and energy. This will be ongoing and we will explore our squad with more players getting opportunities this week.
Lael Kassem will miss this week’s game after suffering a concussion against Williamstown last week, Lauren Houghton is out injured while Haneen Zreika is unavailable. Sarah Ford, Emily Goodsir and Lisa Steane have been rotated out.
Richmond v GIANTS
Saturday, May 18 at 1pm
Punt Rd
FB: Tanya Hetherington, Renee Tomkins, Lisa Whitely
HB: Pippa Smyth, Louise Stephenson, Ellie Brush
C: Alexia Hamilton, Jessica Dal Pos , Amanda Farrugia
HF: Sarah Halverson, Rebecca Privitelli, Delma Gisu
FF: Aimee Schmidt, Rylee McGartland, Tait Mackrill
Ruck: Ingrid Neilsen, Alyce Parker, Alicia Eva
Interchange: Jodie Hicks, Brenna Tarrant, Jessica Allan, Georgia Garnett
