After a remarkable inter-county career which has spanned more than two decades, Cora Staunton is taking the next step.
Staunton will join AFLW side Greater Western Sydney Giants next season.
Staunton, who last month was part of the Mayo side defeated by Dublin in the All-Ireland final, told the Herald Sun:
It will be a huge challenge but us Irish love a challenge.
I’ve never played AFL before and had my first practice at it with Alan and Nick this morning.
Getting used to the ball will be the biggest thing, along with the rules of the game.
Staunton won four All-Ireland titles during her inter-county career so far, scoring an incredible 59-483 in championship games.
Gaelic @LadiesFootball star Cora Staunton is now a GIANT.
Expect to see Cora in our forward line in 2018. #AFLWDraft #NeverSurrender pic.twitter.com/ns0htYREtN— GWS GIANTS (@GWSGIANTS) October 18, 2017
It's said that the Carnacon player had a 'whirlwind' 48 hours which saw her fly to Australia for a trial with Giants head coach Alan McConnell and men's assistant coach Nick Walsh.
The result: Staunton was taken with the 46th pick of last night's draft, becoming the first ever international player taken in the draft.
The move came about following a conversation between Staunton and Nick Walsh last year.
Alan McConnell said that Staunton is 'probably the surprise package of the selections in the draft'.
Cora comes from an elite background in football in Ireland. She recently played in the All Ireland final at Croke Park in front of 46,000 people on the back end of that competition, unfortunately losing. She’s a goalkicking forward so we’re looking for her to bring some goalkicking power to our team as a deep forward.
The AFLW 2018 season gets underway in early February.
