Neasa’s Lions ready for Kangaroos

WHAT a year it has been already for Kildare LGFA’s Neasa Dooley. Earlier this year the Athy player helped Pat Sullivan’s side to retain their position in the Lidl LGFA League Division 1 before heading off for a new adventure with Brisbane Lions in the AFLW. On Saturday evening (Australian time) she will appear in her first ever Grand Final as Brisbane Lions face North Melbourne Kangaroos at a sold-out Ikon Park, Melbourne, in a repeat of last year’s Final which was won by the Kangaroos.

Neasa chatted with The Kildare Nationalist after an Open Training Day and signing session in advance of Saturday’s Grand Final and she reflected very positively on her first season with the Lions which saw her nominated as Rookie of the Year by her club. 

“I've been pretty lucky to play. making my debut in Round Two and I’ve been playing consistently ever since so that's obviously a big thing. We got off to a rocky start and then we came good in Round Five. Ever since, we've been unbeaten so we've had a good run at it and probably peaking at a good time, hopefully,” Neasa told us. 

Brisbane lost to Carlton and Melbourne in those early rounds but turned the tide on Carlton in the “semi-final” last weekend and are hoping to do the same against the Kangaroos on Saturday evening.

Neasa, who operates as “an interchange player” on the team, plays a similar half forward role for the Lions as she did for Kildare. 

“My main role, of course, is trying to score goals,” she explains. 

She scored two goals in her debut game against Fremantle and she’s not sure of how many goals she has scored since. 

“I'm not sure, possibly around the 10/11 goals now,” she laughs. 

“It’s a lot of the work of the team around me so, I won't take full credit for them, but it's been good. The main thing is, I'm being picked for each game ever since the debut so that's obviously good.” 

The Lions fans have reacted very well to Neasa Dooley. 

“Well, there's plenty of Irish fans around, which is great, because that's nice to have. But even all the general fans have been amazing. They always tend to gravitate to share sometimes a bit of a joke and a laugh about things. Yeah, it's all really good over here,” Neasa added.

The Kildare native described the scenes when they defeated Carlton last weekend, a team they had lost to in Round 3. 

“They're always going to be a good team but it was great to get the win over them. It was a home prelim, as we call it, a semi-final, and so it was great. We got an amazing crowd. The atmosphere was so good. It's like the biggest crowd that we kind of got at home. That was a big help. But yeah, definitely it was a game where you just knew that if you just keep going and keep doing what you had to do, you're going to come out with a win. Thankfully, we did. It was it was great,” she added with satisfaction.

Neasa says the atmosphere has been building up all week at the club. 

“We just had an Open Training session for fans to come along and watch the whole session and then just a signing session afterwards, mainly for the kids and the young girls. There's been great excitement all week,” the rookie told us. 

The team flies to Melbourne on Thursday to continue their preparations for Saturday. 

“Everyone is pretty hyped up but we're also trying to take it as just another game as well, trying to contain the energy and excitement as much as we can,” she added.

Saturday’s Grand Final is a repeat of last year Final which was won by the North Melbourne Kangaroos and Neasa Dooley feels the team can use the hurt from last year’s defeat to inspire them for the game. 

“I wasn't here for that game but I remember watching it back home. Definitely to see the hurt on the girl's faces afterwards is pretty hard to watch and now that I've gotten to know them all, I feel it as much as they do,” Dooley explained.

 “Definitely for myself, I can feel it, and it's definitely driving us on to make it right this year as best we can,” she said confidently. 

As well as Neasa Dooley Orla O’Dwyer and Jennifer Dunne are on the Lions team. 

“Jennifer got an All-Australian Award on Monday so that’s a big thing to get; It's like making the Championship team back home,” Neasa explains. 

Meanwhile the Kangaroos will include the likes of Vickki Wall, Blaithin Bogue, Erica O'Shea and Amy Gavin Mangan.

Family Visit Life is good for Neasa Dooley in Brisbane where her brother, Ronan and his girlfriend, Roisin, are also based. 

“My family came over here in September/October time for three weeks. That was pretty nice. My mom, Dymphna, and dad, David, sister, Ciara and my brother David came over. Mam and Dad and David are actually flying out for the Grand Final this weekend,” Neasa says with delight.

Continuing Neasa said, “I do miss home. I miss family and friends, and yeah, definitely I do miss playing football back home as well. But yeah, it's been great, like you're getting paid to do something that you love and you're getting a whole new set of friends as well; 29 friends straight away.” 

 After Saturday’s Grand Final Neasa intends to spend Christmas and the New Year Down Under before returning to these shores in early Spring. We hope she will return with a Grand Final medal in her back pocket and we wish her the very best of luck on Saturday.