Claudia Whitfort (born 31 July 1999) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

competition (AFLW). She has previously played for

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and St Kilda.

Early life

Whitford was born in

and raised in

Mount Eliza, Victoria Mount Eliza is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mount Eliza recorded a ...

on the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geo ...

. She was an athlete at Box Hill Athletics Club an
Mornington Little Athletic Centre
She played

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

for the Peninsula Waves Netball Club in the

Victorian Netball League The Victorian Netball League is a state netball league featuring teams from Victoria, Australia. The league is organised by Netball Victoria. The modern league was first played for during the 2009 season. It replaced an earlier state league as th ...

and represented Victoria three years in a row. She also played football with the Casey Demons (

VFLW VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football Le ...

) and off-season with St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) but her main focus was netball until she began playing for the Southern Saints (St Kilda VWFL) forging a reputation as a hard-hitting pressure tackler and hard ball winner. Whitfort was drafted by

with the club's fourth selection and the 30th pick overall in the

2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts were all capped at one-year ...

AFLW career

She made her debut in the six point win against

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Casey Fields Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, soccer, tennis, cycling, ...

in round 5 of the 2018 season. In April 2019, Whitfort was traded to expansion club St Kilda. In June 2021, Whitfort was traded to the

in exchange for pick #36.

References

External links

* * 1999 births Living people Melbourne Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne St Kilda Football Club (AFLW) players Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players People from Mount Eliza, Victoria Sportswomen from Victoria (state) {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub