Emma Michelle Kearney (born 24 September 1989) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. A decorated

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

(AFLW) competition, Kearney won the league's best and fairest award while playing for the in 2018 and has captained since 2019. She previously played cricket for the

Melbourne Stars The Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melb ...

in the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

(WBBL) and for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the

Women's National Cricket League The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) is the national domestic 50-over competition for women's cricket in Australia. Featuring seven teams—one from every state, plus the Australian Capital Territory—each season's winner is awarded the ...

(WNCL).

Early life

Kearney was born in the

n town of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, and raised on a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

in nearby

Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...

. She played football through her early years, but was forced to give up the sport at the age of twelve when barred from playing with the youth boys team. She attended high school at

Monivae College Monivae College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational high day and boarding school of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) tradition located in , Victoria, Australia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. Set ...

in Hamilton.

Australian rules football

State league and representative football

Kearney returned to football while studying a physical education teaching degree at university in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

. She began playing state league football in 2010, joining

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in the

Victorian Women's Football League The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, across seven divisions and a total of ove ...

(VWFL). Kearney won her club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award five times, and she was a member of the 2016 grand final team that ultimately lost to the

Darebin Falcons The Darebin Women's Sports Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and primarily notable for its Australian rules football team which competes in the highest-level Victorian state league – the VFL Women's (VF ...

. In 2013, Kearney was a member of the triumphant Victorian team at the

AFL Women's National Championship The AFL Women's National Championship was the premier national and international competition in Women's Australian rules football. The championship was held every year between 1992 and 2015. The tournament was organised by the sport's governing ...

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

. That same year, she was selected by the with the tenth overall pick in the first national women's draft, and played for the club in AFL-sanctioned exhibition matches through to the end of 2016.

AFL Women's career

Western Bulldogs

Kearney was signed by the Western Bulldogs as a priority player in August 2016 as part of the inaugural AFL Women's draft. Per the newly formed league's rules, her off-field work at the club made her eligible for the special pre-draft signing. She faced a limited pre-season, missing eight training sessions due to cricketing commitments across the 2016–17 summer. Making her AFLW debut in the club's inaugural match, in round one of the 2017 season against at VU Whitten Oval, Kearney recorded a game-high 23 disposals on the night. In round six against at

South Pine Sports Complex South Pine Sports Complex is a sport and leisure centre in Brendale, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was the primary home ground for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's competition during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. On 18 Febru ...

, she gathered 30 disposals during the match, becoming the competition's first player to achieve the feat. At the end of the 2017 season, Kearney was listed in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

and finished equal-first in her club's best and fairest count alongside

Ellie Blackburn Ellie Blackburn (born 25 March 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She served as Western Bulldogs co-captain in 2019, and has served as the sole captain since the 2020 season. Bla ...

. Having re-signed with the Western Bulldogs during the trade period in May 2017, Kearney enjoyed a standout individual 2018 season, winning the league's

and the AFL Coaches Champion Player of the Year (tied with

Chelsea Randall Chelsea Randall (born 14 June 1991) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She is one of the club's inaugural AFLW team co-captains. Early life and state league football Randa ...

from ) awards. She also shared in ultimate team success as the Bulldogs defeated Brisbane in the

2018 AFL Women's Grand Final The 2018 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held on 24 March 2018 to determine the premiers of the 2018 AFL Women's season, the league's second season. It was contested by the and and was won by the Western Bulldog ...

. With five minutes left in the match, Kearney ran down Kaitlyn Ashmore to win a crucial holding-the-ball free kick. She subsequently converted a set shot 30 metres out from goal to give her team a twelve-point lead and help clinch the premiership.

North Melbourne

In April 2018, Kearney accepted an offer to play with expansion club for the 2019 season. In November 2018, she was announced as the inaugural captain of the team. In each of the following three seasons, Kearney finished runner-up in the club's best and fairest award. She also polled well in the 2020 league best and fairest count, receiving eleven votes to place third. Kearney earned her fifth consecutive All-Australian selection in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, making her one of only two players to manage the accomplishment (the other being

Karen Paxman Karen Paxman (born 25 November 1988) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A defender, tall, Paxman plays primarily on the half-back line with the ability to push into the midfi ...

from ). In June 2021, North Melbourne confirmed she was contracted with the club for the following season. Kearney was forced to miss the first round of the 2022 AFLW season after contracting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She returned shortly thereafter and became a consistent player across both the backline and in the midfield. She was named captain of the 2022 AFL Women's All-Australian team, and her presence in the team made her the only player in the history of the competition to feature in all six of the league's first six representative teams.

Cricket

Kearney played grade cricket for Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies Cricket Club in Melbourne's inner-north. She was selected for the

Victorian Spirit The Victoria Women cricket team, previously known as Victorian Spirit, is the women's representative cricket team for the Australian State of Victoria. They play their home games at Junction Oval, St Kilda, Melbourne. They compete in the Wome ...

during the 2013–14 season for the first time, and played 20 WNCL matches with the team through to the end of the 2016–17 season. Having been signed by the

ahead of the inaugural WBBL season, Kearney took seven wickets from twelve matches in 2015–16, then claimed eight wickets from fourteen matches at an

economy rate In cricket, a bowler's economy rate is the average number of runs they have conceded per over bowled. In most circumstances, the lower the economy rate is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare ...

of 5.27 in 2016–17.

Dual sports controversy

Kearney garnered media attention in December 2016 on account of her dual-sports status. She revealed that she had been asked by

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Crick ...

to sign documents committing her to prioritise cricket training and matches over AFL Women's training sessions held during the cricket season. At the time, Kearney voiced public criticism of the decision by cricket bosses in light of the semi-professional nature of the league.

Personal life

Outside of cricket and football, Kearney has worked as a physical education teacher, including at Mount Alexander College in Flemington. She holds a bachelor of physical education from

Ballarat University The University of Ballarat, Australia was a dual-sector university with multiple campuses in Victoria, Australia, including its main Ballarat campus, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide that were authorized by the university to provide diploma, unde ...

. As part of her move to play football for North Melbourne, Kearney accepted employment as sport and recreation coordinator at the club's community organization, The Huddle. Kearney's partner is Kate Shierlaw, a fellow footballer who has played for and captained .

AFL Women's statistics

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Emma 1989 births Living people Western Bulldogs (AFLW) players Australian women cricketers Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Cricketers from Victoria (Australia) Victoria women cricketers Melbourne Stars (WBBL) cricketers All-Australians (AFL Women's) North Melbourne Football Club (AFLW) players Lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBT sportspeople LGBT cricketers LGBT players of Australian rules football Melbourne University Football Club (VFLW) players Federation University Australia alumni People from Hamilton, Victoria Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia)