Sharni Webb (born 14 July 1991) 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

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

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 ...

Early life

Following encouragement from her brothers, Webb started out playing

at the age of 15 in the Caloundra Women's League. After the league folded, she joined Zillmere Eagles in Brisbane. Webb played as a key position

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. From 2014, she acted as an assistant coach, as well as a player, due to her qualification as a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher. Even after being drafted to

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 ...

, she continued playing for University of Queensland during the off-season, helping them reach the preliminary finals in 2018.

AFLW career

Webb was recruited by

for the

(AFLW) with pick number 111 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 Brisbane's inaugural game against

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 ...

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. Brisbane signed Webb for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. For the 2018 season, she was elevated to the club's leadership group. In May 2018, Brisbane re-signed Webb for the 2019 season. During the season, she had a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

and missed three games of the season. In April 2019, Webb was re-signed by Brisbane for the 2020 season. Following two years as part of the leadership group, she was named vice-captain for the season, under 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 ...

. Webb reached the milestone of 25 AFLW games in the fifth round of the season. After missing the

2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's competition, the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured fourteen clubs, ran from 28 January until 17 April, and comprised ...

due to pregnancy, Webb signed a one-year contract with the club, keeping her with until the end of the 2022 season.

Personal life

Webb was born in

Nambour, Queensland Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

. Besides playing football, Webb works full-time as a school

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, teaching

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

worked in

online teaching Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edtech, it often refer ...

with

Ambrose Treacy College , motto_translation = Sign of Faith , established = as Nudgee Junior College, as Ambrose Treacy College , type = Independent primary, secondary, and high school , religion = Catholicism ...

. In early 2018, Webb married her longtime partner, Andrew Maclean.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Sharni 1991 births Living people Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players