Kate Sheahan (born 9 January 1982) is the AFLW (Australian Football League Women) football operations manager, a professional tennis coach noted for helping

Daria Gavrilova Daria Saville (née Gavrilova; born 5 March 1994) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 2021. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles rank ...

return from a knee injury, and a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player who played for in the

2017 AFL Women's season The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-roun ...

. She is the daughter of sports journalist Mike Sheahan.

Biography

Sheahan played

Australian football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

until she was fourteen as the only girl in a boys' league. She returned to football in 2005, but again ceased playing to concentrate on her tennis career after breaking her wrist while playing for

Melbourne University Mugars Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. Founded in 1859, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. The club fields two teams, kno ...

in the

Victorian Women's Football League The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia across seven divisions with a total of over ...

. However, she was approached by

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

CEO Gillon McLachlan to consider playing in the inaugural season of

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

(AFLW), and was a rookie signing by Collingwood prior to the

2016 AFL Women's draft The 2016 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition recruited players prior to the competition's 2017 AFL Women's season, inaugural season in 2017. Draftees and signings over the peri ...

. Sheahan was on the bench for most of the first half against in round four of the 2017 AFLW season. Within a minute of interchanging into the forward line, she received a season-ending knee injury. The injury may have ended her football career, but Sheahan stated she would play again if offered the opportunity. The Richmond Football Club announced in May 2017 that they had hired Sheahan as full-time AFLW football operations manager in their push to obtain a licence for an expansion team in the 2019 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheahan, Kate 1982 births Living people Richmond Football Club administrators Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Melbourne University Football Club (VFLW) players Australian tennis coaches