Ten grade five/six girls from Rochester will join with 10 girls from Lockington to form the squad, with the carnival being held at Moama’s Jack Eddy Oval later this mormning (Tuesday, July 19).
It will be contested by 11 schools from the region on four reduced size fields, which will host the teams in five 20 minute qualifying games — before the finals.
AFL 2022 will start in the last week of August and continues to gather momentum with the new Collective Bargain Agreement significantly increasing the pay packages of the female footballers.
Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and Sydney will make it an 18-team competition in 2022, with the top tier of players earning $71,935 for the 10 home-and-away games (and four-week finals series).
Students from Echuca’s St Joseph’s College will be umpiring the carnival, with the winning team afforded the opportunity of representing the Campaspe district at Swan Hill on Tuesday, August 2.
Rochester and Lockington will have to overcome Moama, Kyabram P-12, St Mary’s Echuca, Echuca and Twin Rivers teams to qualify for the finals.
There are two divisions, with the other division including Echuca East, second teams from Echuca and St Mary’s, Tongala and Kyabram’s St Augustines.
Last year the combined team had a 1-1 return at the carnival, with Alantra Brown part of the team.
She and Richmond supporter Jordi Howe, who plays on the weekends with Echuca’s Under-12 team, will be part of the combined team.
The girls will also be part of a tour of the MCG later this year, as part of the school’s Year 5/6 camp, in the second last week of term.
