Leah Kaslar (born 11 September 1985) 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 who played for and co-captained

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

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).

Early life

Kaslar was born in 1985 in

Caringbah, New South Wales Caringbah is a suburb in Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is south of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Sutherland Shire. Caringbah once st ...

and moved with her family to

Cairns, Queensland 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 ...

before her first birthday. She first played football as a teenager in Cairns and moved to the

shortly after her 21st birthday where she began playing football for Coolangatta Tweed Heads in the QAFLW. She was equal winner of the Queensland Women's AFL (QWAFL) best and fairest in 2016.

AFLW career

Brisbane

Kaslar was recruited by with the number 31 pick 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 was announced as one of the Brisbane Lions' "values leaders" to assist captain

Emma Zielke Emma Zielke (born 19 April 1988) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's competition. She was the club's inaugural AFLW team captain, leading the club in 2017–2018 and 2020–2021. Early ...

alongside

Emily Bates Emily Bates (born 18 October 1995) is an Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Brisbane Lions from 2017 to season seven. Bates was selected by the in the inaugura ...

Sabrina Frederick-Traub Sabrina Frederick (formerly Frederick-Traub; born 23 November 1996) is an English-born Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was one of Brisbane's two marquee players for the ...

and Sam Virgo in January 2017. She made her debut in the Lions' inaugural game against at

Casey Fields Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, soccer, tennis, cycling, go ...

on 5 February 2017. At the end of the season, she was listed in the 2017 40-player All-Australian squad. Brisbane signed Kaslar for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. Brisbane signed Kaslar for the 2019 season prior to 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 ...

. On 12 December 2018, she was elected 2019 team captain by her teammates.

Gold Coast

Following the 2019 season, Kaslar joined the

. She was appointed co-captain in January 2020. In June 2021, the Gold Coast announced they are not offering Kaslar a contract for the 2022 season.

References

External links

* * 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Cairns Australian rules footballers from Sydney Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players {{AFL-bio-1980s-stub