Kildare's Dooley hoping to get the nod for AFLW debut

Just about a month ago the British & Irish Lions Rugby team took on and beat Australia in the First Test of their Australian Tour in Brisbane. On Sunday next another Lions team, the Brisbane Lions, will take to the field against Hawthorns in their opening game of the 2025 AFLW season. Joining two other Irish players in the Lions Squad, Orla O’Dwyer (Tipperary) and Jennifer Dunne (Dublin) will be Kildare’s own lioness, AWFL rookie, Neasa Dooley. The season lasts for twelve weeks with the Grand Final scheduled for the 29 November.

Neasa Dooley enjoyed great success with the Kildare LGFA team before departing for the AWFL in May after impressing Lions Head Coach, Craig Starcevich, who was on a trip to Ireland. The 23-year-old Athy native signed a two-year deal and since her arrival in Brisbane in mid-May she has been extremely busy preparing for her first season in the AWFL as she told The Kildare Nationalist ahead of Sunday’s opener.

“I got off a 24-hour flight and I was straight into the club to prepare for Induction Week,” Neasa recalls. “It was a series of meeting and getting to know everyone. It was a fun week,” she added.

Accommodation was all sorted before Neasa arrived in Brisbane. She shares a house with two other team mates, Eleanor Hartill and Sophie Peters. 

“I had ordered my bed and other pieces before my arrival but I got a nice surprise because when I arrived it was all made up for me,” Dooley laughs.

Pre-season started for Dooley a week after her arrival in Brisbane. 

“Pre-season was pretty similar to back home but it was a step up for sure,” she tells us. 

“There was a lot more contact, body on body, which was a bit different to what I’d been used to. That was a big difference because the contact can come at any time, on or off the ball. You kind of have to keep your head in a swivel to make sure there is nothing coming at you,” she laughs. “It took a couple of weeks to learn how to tackle and to then give my first tackle, which I did do in my first scrimmage game and once I got that done, I was happy. I’m not afraid of it any more” Dooley says.

The former Kildare player is impressed with the facilities at Brisbane Lions. “We have an Elite Gym and outside that we have a Recovery Room which differs greatly from what I would have been used to back home,” she explains. 

“It includes a swimming pool, ice baths, hot tubs and saunas. Each day at training varies in certain aspects. We could have a day of meetings or a gym session, skill session or we could have a full pitch session for one and a half to two hours. We could also have an upper body gym session. Some days we will have a heavy pitch session with no gym,” she continues.

In preparation for the new season every team plays two scrimmage or friendly games and Brisbane Lions had good wins over Gold Coast SUNS and Sydney Swans in their scrimmage games. Neasa played in both those games. Each AWFL game consists of four quarters of 17 minutes each but with added time at the end of each quarter as required. 

“I haven’t scored a goal as yet,” Neasa laughs. “I’m listed as a forward and I play mainly a half forward role but half forward/mid forward would be my playing position.” 

Twenty one players are named on Match Day Squads with sixteen players per team on the pitch during the game. There is unlimited use of five rotation players.

Looking forward to Sunday’s game where she has been included as an Emergency Player in the squad so she will have to wait a little longer for her full debut, Neasa Dooley says it’s been a very quick preseason. 

“It flew by and there has been a great buzz around the place. We get two days off but we’re more or less in for the other five days,” she tells us. 

“Although I don’t know about selection as yet I’m excited about the first League game,” the 23-year-old says.

Neasa has plenty of contact on a daily basis with family and friends back in Athy and Kildare and her brother, Ronan, and his girlfriend, Roisin, live in Brisbane but she did suffer from a bout of home sickness as she explains. 

“It was during a four-day break that we had on week seven. Up until that point it had been just so busy with training and meetings and then we were on a four-day break. I chose to stay in the house for the break and the “alone time” hit me a little bit and I felt very homesick for the weekend. When we got back into the clubs again, I was distracted and I haven’t thought about it as much since,” she explained. 

“You do miss home, you miss family and friends and you miss the round ball as well,” she laughs again.

The Athy native was welcomed from Day 1 by her new Australian club.

 “All the girls have been brilliant. Even before I came over, I was getting messages from them welcoming me and congratulating me on joining the team. They love us Irish,” she laughs again. 

“There is a lot of Irish over here and when you’re at appearances or events they all come up to speak to you. The Australian fans are really nice as well and we have plenty of them. The success that Brisbane has had over the last few years attracts fans,” Dooley explains again.

Her Brisbane Lions teammates are also coping well with the pronunciation of the name “Neasa”. 

“They’re doing quite well. Head Coach, Craig Starcevich, got me to pronounce my name in an audio clip before I came here and he sent it to the other players so that they could pronounce it correctly,” Neasa tells us.

She, Ronan and Roisin got a chance to go to the Lions V Australia First Test which was held in Brisbane.

What about the autograph we ask? 

“I’ve been practicing,” Neasa laughs. 

“When I first started doing some signings the other girls on the team told me I needed to change ASAP because I was just using my normal name. They showed me a few little things to make it look cool so I’ve been practicing a lot and I think I’ve perfected it now but sometimes I can do a really good one and sometimes it can be awful.” 

Neasa is very happy with her move to Brisbane Lions. 

“It is all that I thought it would be and more,” she says. “You don’t feel like you’re going to work. Back home we play football for the love of the game and that’s what it feels like we are doing here. We have the addition of extra coaches and 24/7 support. I’m loving it,” she concluded.

We are sure that the Brisbane fans will soon get used to Neasa Dooley scoring goals as she did in Kildare and that they will get used to seeking her autograph, cool or not.