With AFLW pre-season kicking off last week, it is time to officially induct our eight new GIANTS and announce their jumper numbers for the upcoming season.
A star on the track since joining the club in the summer, former premiership-winning Lion Mikayla Pauga will wear the number 13 jumper for her first season in orange and charcoal.
While the 21-year-old played predominantly as a small forward for the Lions, she has been injected into the midfield in her brief time at the GIANTS where her toughness and ball-winning ability have shone throughout training and the club’s VFLW campaign.
Pauga’s new number 13 was most famously worn by GIANTS legend Cora Staunton.
Young gun Kaitlyn Srhoj, the club’s first pick and the number three overall pick in last year’s draft, has been handed the number 14 jumper left vacant by the retiring Annalyse Lister for her debut AFLW campaign.
Named in the 2023 Under-18 All-Australian team and a part of the AFLW National Academy, Srhoj is a smooth-moving 175cm midfielder who is sure to quickly become a GIANT fan-favourite.
Impressive Irish rookie Eilish O’Dowd will make her shift from Gaelic football to Australian Rules football in the number 15 jumper most recently worn by Teagan Germech.
Winner of the club’s recent time trial, O’Dowd will be looking to break into Cam Bernasconi’s side following a strong showing in the ruck since joining the club from Ireland in January.
Former Swan Aliesha Newman will take up the number 16 for her new club after swapping the red and white for orange and charcoal following a trade between the clubs in December.
Newman takes over the number 16 previously worn by Britt Tully from in 2017-18, Taylah Davies from 2019-21 and Isadora McLeay for the past three seasons.
Exciting midfielder Indigo Linde will start her AFLW career in the GIANTS’ number 19 jumper after the Victorian was taken by the club with pick 40 at the 2023 AFLW Draft in December.
Linde takes over the jumper from former cross-code athlete Grace Hill.
Talented Tasmanian teenager Claire Ransom will wear the number 26 jumper in her first season as a GIANT., becoming the third GIANT to wear the number after Courtney Gum, Georgie Fowler and Rene Caris.
A tough and smooth-moving midfielder, Ransom joined the club in the summer following two games for the Suns after being chosen with pick 34 in the 2022 AFLW Draft.
Another addition from a fellow AFLW club in the off-season, former Carlton small defender Daisy Walker will rock the number 28 as a GIANT in 2024 after four seasons in navy blue.
Prior occupants of the number 28 jumper are Phoebe Monahan and Casidhe Simmons.
Meanwhile former basketball talent Courtney Murphy will wear number 30 in her maiden season as a GIANT, with the athletic young ruck/key forward joining the club from the Lions in exchange for pick 34 in last year’s AFLW Draft.
Murphy will wear the jumper recently left vacant by Ally Dallaway who was traded to the Tigers in the off-season.
The GIANTS officially kicked off their pre-season campaign last Monday in preparation for an exciting 2024 AFLW season, set to begin in late August
Click here to check out the must-see games in the GIANTS’ upcoming 2024 AFLW fixture.
