Samantha Virgo (born 20 February 1987) is 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 ...

er playing for and co-captaining

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 ...

until 2021. She previously played 15 games over three seasons with

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 ...

Early life

Virgo was born in 1987 in

Blackwood, South Australia Blackwood is a south eastern suburb located in the foothills of Adelaide, South Australia. It is part of the local government area of the City of Mitcham. History The name "Blackwood" most likely comes from either the Acacia melanoxylon, also k ...

. She won the club

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 ...

at Griffith-Moorooka in 2015 and was equal winner of the Queensland Women's AFL (QWAFL) best and fairest in 2016 while playing at Yeronga South Brisbane.

AFLW career

Brisbane

Virgo was recruited by with the number 66 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

Leah Kaslar Leah Kaslar (born 11 September 1985) is an Australian rules footballer who played for and co-captained Brisbane and the Gold Coast in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Early life Kaslar was born in 1985 in Caringbah, New South Wales and moved with her f ...

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. She was nominated by her teammates for the 2017 AFLW Players'

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

award, and was also listed in the 2017 All-Australian team. Brisbane signed Virgo for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. She missed that season through injury, and instead acted as team manager for the Lions. She returned to playing for the 2019 season as one of three vice-captains under Kaslar.

Gold Coast

Following the 2019 season, Virgo joined the

. She was appointed co-captain in January 2020. Virgo retired at the end of the 2021 season.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Virgo, Sam 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Brisbane Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players All-Australians (AFL Women's) Lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBT sportspeople LGBT players of Australian rules football Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players