Katie Lynch (born 20 April 2000) 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

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

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 ...

competition (AFLW). She had previously played for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

Early life and state football

Lynch started with Australian rules football in the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pro ...

program at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She then continued to junior level with the boys at Camberwell Sharks, playing 77 games with them until the under-14s level. During her year with under-11s, she was announced as the

Yarra Junior Football League The Yarra Junior Football League is the largest junior Australian rules football league in Australia. The league has a total of 32 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne. There is a total of 66 divisions througho ...

(YJFL)

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 ...

and was selected for the V squad, a representative team of the YJFL. At the age of 15 she joined the youth girls' team of Kew Rovers and played 34 games with them, winning ''Under 15 Girls Best and Fairest'' in 2015 and ''Youth Girls Best and Fairest'' in 2017. In 2016, she fractured her right ankle and didn't return to playing until halfway through 2017. In 2018 Lynch played for

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban ar ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

and represented Vic Metro in the

AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships are the annual national Australian rules football championships for women players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the p ...

, playing in both midfield and forward positions. During the 2018 season, Lynch was touted for an AFLW draft spot. While representing Vic Metro, she was selected for the initial squad of the 2018 AFL Women's Under 18 All-Australian team. Following this, Lynch also played two games with Collingwood

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football Le ...

(VFLW) team, the first one being against NT Thunder at Collingwood's home ground

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. Lynch said that playing in the different competitions helped her adapt to different playing styles, as each one is a different kind of game.

AFL Women's career

Collingwood

Lynch was drafted by Collingwood with the club's second selection and the 11th pick overall in the

2018 AFL Women's draft The 2018 AFL Women's (AFLW) draft consisted of the various periods when the ten clubs in the AFL Women's, Australian rules football women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2019 AFL Women's season, 2019 season. As i ...

. The coach Wayne Siekman said that she's "a tall, big bodied midfielder who can also push forward. Katie uses her size to her advantage to win the ball and also push the opposition off. She has a very damaging left foot kick that rarely misses the target." She made her debut in a loss to at

in round 2 of the 2019 season. Following her debut, Lynch played in all six of the remaining matches of the season.

Western Bulldogs

In August 2020, Lynch was traded to the

along with pick #45 in exchange for pick #33. As soon as Lynch came to the Bulldogs, she had an impact on the team. She played as a defender for the majority of the year. In her first game with the team she broke her career disposals record. She had her best game for the season in the team's Round 8 loss to , where she collected 14 disposals, 6 tackles and 3 marks. After a successful season, she won the team's ''Best Young Player'' Award alongside teammate

Jess Fitzgerald Jess Fitzgerald (born 8 March 2002) is an Australian rules footballer playing for in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She was drafted with the second selection in the 2020 AFL Women's draft by the . Early football Growing up in Bundoora, Victoria, Fitz ...

. She signed a contract extension with the club in June 2021, after playing every game possible for the club that season. After an excellent season 7, in which she took the second-most marks across the AFLW and led the Bulldogs for intercept possessions and rebound 50s, Lynch was rewarded with both 22under22 and All-Australian honours.

Personal life

Lynch grew up as a

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

fan, barracking for them in a match against Collingwood a month before being drafted to Collingwood. She studied at

Carey Baptist Grammar School Carey Baptist Grammar School, commonly known as Carey, is an Independent school, independent and co-educational, Baptists, Baptist day school in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The institution consists of five campuses: Kew, Victoria, ...

and was part of their Australian rules football leadership group.

Statistics

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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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 ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Katie 2000 births Living people Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Oakleigh Chargers players (NAB League Girls) Western Bulldogs (AFLW) players People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School