GIANTS HQ has always been a home for some of the top young talent in the AFL and today was no different as two of the best young female footballers in the country visited for athletic testing.

Teenage pair Angela Priftis and Haneen Zreika are part of the Auburn GIANTS Academy which provides some of the top local female talent with a pathway to the elite level.

Priftis and Zreika underwent athletic testing with the help of GIANTS Athletic Performance FastTrack trainees Jaclyn Quinn and Simone Freeman with tests including standing and running vertical jumps, agility testing, 20m sprints and a 2km time trial.

The Academy has been established with the support of Harvey Norman, who are proud partners of the Auburn GIANTS.

The purpose of the Academy is to not only provide local female footballers with a clear pathway to the elite level but also develop them as well-rounded members of the wider community.

The Auburn GIANTS pair are aiming to be drafted for the annual women’s exhibition game later this year and prepare themselves for playing in a future national women’s league.

Established in 2011 as the Auburn Tigers, the GIANTS have been involved with the first women’s AFL team in Western Sydney since the club’s inception with Auburn changing their name to the GIANTS at the beginning of 2014.

From humble beginnings in their first year where they didn’t win a single game, the senior team made finals in division two of the AFL Sydney competition for the first time in 2015.

Harvey Norman was announced as the major sponsor of the Auburn GIANTS in March of last year, the first time the company has been involved in AFL.

With their support, Auburn has expanded to also include two youth girls teams as well as the new Academy, with plans to grow further in the future.

There are now over 200,000 women playing AFL across the country and the GIANTS are proud supporters of women’s football across all levels.