On the back of a Round 1 victory against Collingwood, the Sydney Swans AFLW team will hit the road for the first time in season 2024, facing St Kilda in Round 2 at RSEA Park on Sunday and will have a new face for the fixture.
Coach Scott Gowans confirmed on Thursday that young defender Lara Hausegger will make her AFLW debut against the Saints but has also made one more change to the side with Julie O'Sullivan coming in for her first appearance in 2024.
Coming out of the side are Maddy Collier (concussion) and Kiara Hillier (omitted).
19-year Lara Hausegger joined the Sydney Swans this season after being selected with pick 33 in the 2023 AFLW Draft. The defender previously played three games in the VFLW with Collingwood and is a premiership winning captain with the Oakleigh Chargers.
Gowans said he was thrilled for the young defender to get her chance after a strong pre-season.
"Over the preseason she has really grown and you can see why she was in a leadership role at Oakleigh." Gowans said.
"She is tough, tenacious and thinks about the game really well and is a really good rebound defender. We're looking forward to seeing her in action."
Gowans is also happy to get defender Julie O'Sullivan back in his defensive line, with the 23-year old a key cog down back last season.
"She is important to our structure and brings that hard edge to our defence," Gowans said.
"Defend first is what we want to do and she certainly does that so ver pleasing to see her back. She is a big in for us."
The Swans opponents come into the match on the back of a dominant display in their season opener, defeating the Gold Coast Suns by 54 points.
The Saints had a similar season to the Swans in 2023 and recorded six victories. It was Sydney who edged them out of the eight, with just 4.6% percentage separating the two teams last season.
Gowans noted the Saints impressive performance in Round 1 and said he was was excited for his side to come up against them after not playing them since Sydney's first ever game in the AFLW competition. In that game in August 2022 St Kilda were victorious by 29 points.
"The Saints played well against the Gold Coast Suns and to have a win like that, they played some really good footy," Gowans said.
"We want to play our footy and take our game to them and see where it goes.
"Nick Dal Santo is a pretty good coach so I expect it to be a tactical game and it's always hard to play at RSEA Park. There’s an element of wanting to get the job done but it’s one we are going to have to fight for."
The final team to face the Saints will be named on Friday evening at 5pm.
