Kate Sheahan (born 9 January 1982) is the AFLW (Australian Football League Women) football operations manager, a professional tennis coach noted for helping Daria Gavrilova return from a knee injury, and a former

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 ...

player who played for in the

2017 AFL Women's season The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's competition, the new highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eight clubs, ran from 3 February until 25 March, and compr ...

. She is the daughter of sports journalist

Mike Sheahan Michael Sheahan (born 4 March 1947) is an Australian journalist who specialises in Australian rules football. He was chief football writer and associate sports editor for the ''Herald Sun'' for 18 years. Although he left these positions at the ...

. Sheahan played

Australian 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modifie ...

until she was fourteen as the only girl in a boys' league. She returned to football in 2005, but again ceased playing to concentrate on her tennis career after breaking her wrist while playing for

Melbourne University Mugars Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Amat ...

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 ...

. However, she was approached by

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

CEO

Gillon McLachlan Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou, having previously served as his deputy. In 2022 he announced his resignation ...

to consider playing in the inaugural season of AFL Women's (AFLW), and was a rookie signing by Collingwood prior to 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 ...

. Sheahan was

on the bench On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

for most of the first half against in round four of the 2017 AFLW season. Within a minute of interchanging into the

forward line In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

, she received a season-ending knee injury. The injury may have ended her football career, but Sheahan stated she would play again if offered the opportunity. The Richmond Football Club announced in May 2017 that they had hired Sheahan as full-time AFLW football operations manager in their push to obtain a licence for an expansion team in the 2019 season. Sheahan married convicted paedophile Mark Fitzpatrick in 2011 with whom she shares a son. Fitzpatrick was convicted of sexually abusing a teenage student whilst he was her tennis coach.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheahan, Kate 1982 births Living people Richmond Football Club administrators Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Melbourne University Football Club (VFLW) players Australian tennis coaches