Jessica Allan (born 26 May 1999) 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 playing for

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She is the sister of

player,

Sarah Allan Sarah Allan (; born 1945) is an American paleographer and scholar of ancient China. She was a Burlington Northern Foundation Professor of Asian Studies in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures at Dartmouth College; ...

Early life and career

Allan grew up in Beachport, South Australia, the daughter of former Central District Football Club player Keith Allan. She began playing football when she was five years old and before her AFLW career played for Salisbury in the South Australian Women's Football League. Allan captained the Allies (a representative team consisting of players from

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) in the 2017 Under-18 National Championships and was named vice-captain of the All-Australian team from the tournament. She also played for Glenelg in the inaugural

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

Women's League. In the 2017 AFLW Draft Combine she won the vertical running jump test and came sixth in the 20-metre sprint.

AFLW career

Allan was drafted by

with their first selection and eighth overall in the

2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts were all capped at one-year ...

. She made her debut in the twelve point loss to at

Norwood Oval Norwood Oval (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from the Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery) is a suburban oval in the western end of Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is owned by Norwood, Payn ...

in the opening round of the 2018 season. After spending the 2019 season on the inactive list due to intensive training for the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

, Allan was required to move to Canberra for her army career and was traded to

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...

. Allan played for Greater Western Sydney for two seasons and then spent two seasons on the inactive list during 2022 due to her army training. She was then required by the army to move back to Adelaide and was traded back to

Player profile

Allan is a ruck with strong contested marking skills and vertical jump.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Jessica 1999 births Living people Adelaide Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Greater Western Sydney Giants (AFLW) players