Sarah Perkins (born 26 July 1993) 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 plays for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

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. She previously played with the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

, and

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

Early life and state league career

Raised in

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 ...

, Perkins played

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

before playing Australian rules football. At thirteen, Perkins was told she would no longer be able to play contact sports due to a

spinal disc herniation Spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical ...

, so she concentrated on netball for the next three years. However, she decided to start playing Australian rules football at sixteen, joining the Eastern Devils' youth side in 2009 and becoming a two-time Victorian under-18 representative before playing in the Devils' senior side 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 ...

(VWFL) in 2012. In 2016, she kicked fifty-two goals and finished third in the leading goalkicker award, behind

Moana Hope Moana Hope (born 14 February 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the AFL Women's competition from 2017 to 2019, including 13 matches over two seasons at and a further seven matches over one season at . Eac ...

and

Katie Brennan Katie Brennan (born 2 October 1992) is an Australian rules footballer with and captain of the Richmond Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for and captained the Western Bulldogs from 2017 to 2019. Brennan was signed ...

, and was named in the VWFL team of the year. In the eighteen months before being recruited, she lost to fulfill her dream of playing AFL football, reducing her BMI from 45.1 to just 31.7.

AFL Women's career

After being overlooked 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 ...

, Perkins was recruited by the

as a free-agent. She debuted in the thirty-six point win over at

Thebarton Oval Thebarton Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia currently used for a variety of sports including Australian rules football. It was the home ground of South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club West Torrens Football Clu ...

in the opening round of the 2017 AFLW season. Labelled as the league's first cult hero by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, she recorded eight disposals, three marks and a long-range goal, and earned the nickname "Tex" after The Cruel Sea lead singer,

Tex Perkins Gregory Stephen Perkins (born 28 December 1964), better known by his stage name Tex Perkins, is an Australian singer-songwriter who fronted the Australian rock band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James B ...

. In addition, her performance in the match drew comparisons to Adelaide captain and full-forward, Taylor Walker, who is also nicknamed "Tex". In her second match, she kicked two goals to help Adelaide defeat the at VU Whitten Oval by twenty-five points; her skills in the match led to ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' journalist, Eliza Sewell, writing "she leads well and takes a strong grab...she uses her body well and a set-shot goal from forty-five metres impressed even the Bulldogs fans," Furthermore, ''

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

'' journalist, Sarah Olle, wrote "Perkins' leading patterns are terrific. She’s quick off the mark, uses her size to great effect, has a monstrous kick and loves a celebration" and the Australian edition of ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' said she is a player people need to know about and she is as strong as she is inspirational. Perkins kicked four goals and created scoring opportunities for her teammates in the seventh round win against , leading to her being named Player of the Week by the AFL Players Association. On 25 March 2017 Perkins and the Adelaide Crows defeated the Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium to become the inaugural AFLW premiers. Perkins played an instrumental role in the Crow's success, and was named on the forward line in the 2017 All-Australian team. On 18 May 2017, Adelaide signed Perkins for the 2018 AFLW season. In 2019, Sarah was delisted from Adelaide. In 2020, Sarah was added as an injury replacement player to the Melbourne list. In the 2020 AFLW Draft, Sarah was selected at pick 23 to the Gold Coast Suns.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of S7 (2022).'' , - , bgcolor=F0E68C,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

^# , , , , 28 , 8 , , 11 , , 8 , , 43 , , 24 , , 67 , , 18 , , 24 , , 21 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 5.4 , , 3.0 , , 8.4 , , 2.3 , , 3.0 , , 2.6 , , 6 , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , , , 28 , 7 , , 1 , , 4 , , 23 , , 9 , , 32 , , 4 , , 15 , , 4 , , 0.1 , , 0.6 , , 3.3 , , 1.3 , , 4.6 , , 0.6 , , 2.1 , , 0.4 , , 0 , - ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , , 28 , 2 , , 1 , , 1 , , 6 , , 3 , , 9 , , 3 , , 5 , , 1 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 4.5 , , 1.5 , , 2.5 , , 0.5 , , 0 , - ,

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- ...

, , , , 33 , 3 , , 3 , , 0 , , 14 , , 8 , , 22 , , 6 , , 9 , , 7 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.7 , , 2.7 , , 7.3 , , 2.0 , , 3.0 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 28 , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , 29 , , 3 , , 32 , , 9 , , 5 , , 12 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 0.6 , , 6.4 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , 2.4 , , 0 , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , 28 , 10 , , 6 , , 12 , , 53 , , 13 , , 66 , , 18 , , 14 , , 12 , , 0.6 , , 1.2 , , 5.3 , , 1.3 , , 6.6 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 0 , - , S7 (2022) , , , , 23 , 4 , , 1 , , 1 , , 15 , , 3 , , 18 , , 3 , , 6 , , 3 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 3.8 , , 0.8 , , 4.5 , , 0.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 39 !! 26 !! 26 !! 183 !! 63 !! 246 !! 61 !! 78 !! 60 !! 0.7 !! 0.7 !! 4.7 !! 1.6 !! 6.3 !! 1.6 !! 2.0 !! 1.5 !! 6

Honours and achievements

Team * AFLW premiership player ():

* VFLW premiership player (): 2018 Individual * AFLW All-Australian team:

* Adelaide leading goalkicker: 2017 * Gold Coast leading goalkicker: 2021 *

Victoria Australian rules football team The Victoria Australian rules football team, known colloquially as the Big V, is the state representative side of Victoria, Australia, in the sport of Australian rules football. The Big V has a proud history, dominating the first 100 years of ...

: 2017

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Sarah Living people 1993 births Adelaide Football Club (AFLW) players Melbourne Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) All-Australians (AFL Women's) Victorian Women's Football League players Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players Hawthorn Football Club (AFLW) players