Sophie Casey (born 22 October 1991) is 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 ...

er who played for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

in the

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). Casey was one of the inaugural players in the AFLW competition and made her debut in the league’s historic first match in February 2017 at

IKON Park Princes Park (also known as Ikon Park under naming rights) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the Princes Park precinct in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. Officially the Carlton Recreation Ground, it is a hi ...

Early life and state football

Sophie Casey was born in

Holbrook, New South Wales Holbrook is a small town in Southern New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Hume Highway, by road North East of Melbourne and by road south-west of Sydney between Tarcutta and Albury. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire which was establis ...

, where she was introduced to Australian rules football through the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian football to children aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective program. It has incre ...

program. She played for three years with the Riverina Lions in the Canberra League while attending university in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

. Casey later joined the

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 ...

club, Eastern Devils. In 2014 and 2015, she was selected for the AFLW Academy, a program designed to identify and develop elite female football talent. Despite her strong performances in the VFLW and her development through the AFLW Academy, Casey was overlooked in 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 ...

. However, her talent and potential did not go unnoticed, and she was signed by the

as a free agent ahead of the AFL Women's inaugural season.

AFL Women's Career

Casey made her AFLW debut in February 2017 during the league’s first-ever match at

against Carlton, a historic moment for Australian football. Across her seven-season career with Collingwood, Casey played 63 games, becoming a key figure in the club’s defence. She also made an offensive impact, kicking her first career goal in a match against Greater Western Sydney during the 2020 AFLW season.

Citations and Challenges

During her career, Casey’s aggressive playing style occasionally led to challenges. She was cited by the AFLW Tribunal on multiple occasions, reflecting her physical approach to the game. While these moments were part of her career, they also highlighted her uncompromising commitment to winning contests and protecting her teammates. In December 2023, Collingwood announced that Casey would not be offered a contract for the 2024 AFLW season.

Statistics

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Sophie Living people 1991 births Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales