Albury’s Iilish Ross is hoping the worst of her injury woes are behind her heading into a second AFLW season with Collingwood.
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The 19-year-old impressed in defence last year, but stress fractures in her foot restricted her to five games.
She’ll work closely with Holbrook export Sophie Casey in the backline in a historic clash against Geelong on Saturday night.
The Cats join North Melbourne as the competition’s two expansion clubs, with GMHBA Stadium to host its first AFLW fixture.
Interestingly, a Collingwood side hasn’t played for premiership points at the venue since 1991.
“We have a very young group this year, we lost 13 players during the off-season and we’ve got eight debutants on Saturday night,” Ross said.
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“With losing so many players, we’ve all stepped up a little bit, but we’ve still got a lot of older players that really look after us.
“Our whole group is pretty healthy and it would have been tough on the coaches to select our final 21 to take into round one.”
Ross is one of eight Border and North East products selected for round one of the season.
Carlton’s Gab Pound (Albury) and Darcy Vescio (Wangaratta), Western Bulldogs’ Emma Mackie (Albury), GWS Giants’ Alyce Parker (Holbrook), Geelong’s Rebecca Webster (Benalla), Adelaide’s Jessica Foley (Wodonga) and Collingwood teammate Sophie Casey (Holbrook) will all feature across the weekend.
In the remaining games, Adelaide takes on the Western Bulldogs, newcomers North Melbourne meet Carlton, Melbourne hosts Fremantle, while Brisbane clashes with GWS Giants.
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