Jessica Sedunary (born 10 November 1990) 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 the West Coast Eagles in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She has previously played for the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

from 2017 to 2019 and 2021 to 2022 (S6) and the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

in 2020.

Early life

Sedunary grew up in Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula. Originally her sport of choice was hockey, which forced her to drives to

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 ...

and back every week for games and training. Her family moved to Adelaide when she was in high school, and she switched to

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

within weeks when the

South Australian Sports Institute Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in South Australia. Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia having the second highest rate of event attendance of all states and terri ...

saw her potential. She went on to represent Australia in the

2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival The 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival was the fourth edition of the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. It was held from 17 to 21 January 2007. Participant nations Of the 23 countries invited, 20 of them participated in the games. They we ...

in cycling. After a year of study at university Sedunary was forced to drop her studies and her cycling due to financial constraints. Sedunary first played football accidentally. She went to a friend's football game to spectate, but when a player was injured she had to replace them on the field, having never kicked a football before. With no professional Australian rules football competition for women existing yet, Sedunary briefly signed with a lingerie gridiron club as it was similar to football. The competition was disbanded before a game had been played and, rather than pursuing gridiron further she quit and returned to football. In 2016 she joined

Morphettville Park Football Club The Morphettville Park Football Club is a sports club first formed in 1958 and initial games were against sides who had forfeits or byes. The club is mostly known for their Australian rules football team, which joined the Glenelg-South-West Dist ...

and won the South Australian Women's Football League premiership with them.

AFLW career (2017–)

Sedunary was drafted by

with their fifteenth selection and 119th overall in the

2016 AFL Women's draft The 2016 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for w ...

. She made her debut in the thirty-six point win against

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 ...

Thebarton Oval Thebarton Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens Football Clu ...

in the opening round of the 2017 season. She was a part of Adelaide's premiership side after the club defeated by six points at

Metricon Stadium Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of the ...

in the

AFL Women's Grand Final The AFL Women's Grand Final is an annual women's Australian rules football match to determine the AFL Women's (AFLW) premiers for that year. Each year, the winning club receives a premiership trophy and premiership flag; all players in the winn ...

. She played every match in her debut season to finish with eight matches, and she came fourth in Adelaide's Club Champion award. Adelaide signed Sedunary for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. In April 2019, Sedunary joined expansion club St Kilda, but returned to play with the Crows after playing only one season with St Kilda. Sedunary was placed on the list of inactive players for 2022 season 6 while she trained with Cycling Australia's Olympic Fast Track Program in an effort to qualify for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

. In June 2022, Sedunary was traded to

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

in exchange for

Niamh Kelly Niamh Kelly (born 30 August 1995) is a gaelic football player who plays for Mayo and an Australian rules footballer who plays for Adelaide in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She has previously played for West Coast Eagles (AFL Women's), West Coast. She ...

and

Amber Ward Amber Ward (born 12 October 2001) is an Australian rules footballer playing for Adelaide. She was selected by the West Coast Eagles as an undrafted free agent following the 2020 AFL Women's draft, and made her AFL Women's debut in round 1 of th ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sedunary, Jess 1990 births Living people Adelaide Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from South Australia St Kilda Football Club (AFLW) players