INSTEAD of running out for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL this weekend, former Derry underage footballer Callum Brown will make his season debut for the GWS reserves in the VFL against Carlton in Bankstown tomorrow.
Brown has booted 17 goals in 12 matches for GWS this season but after serving a three-match suspension for an ugly clash with Sydney’s Tom McCartin in May, has struggled to replicate his career-best form from earlier in the year.
The Limavady man struggled to make an impact against the Adelaide Crows last week when he collected just four disposals and now finds himself out of the struggling GWS team, who are in danger of missing finals in September having lost six of their past eight matches.
“Callum has been spoken about, but we have faith in all of our players to be able to turn it around,” Giants coach Adam Kingsley said.
“The conversation we’ve had is whether to keep one of two of our players in the AFL or whether to send them to the reserves to regain a bit of form as we did with Aaron Cadman.
“Then they come back in (to the AFL) and feel pretty good about the way they are playing and make a change that way.
“It’s a discussion we have with all of our players every week, that if they are not playing as well as they can, do we send them away (to the reserves) or persist with them in the AFL.
“It’s a discussion we’ve had with a whole bunch of players this week not just Cal Brown.”
And Kingsley added:
“If we play the way we can play, the results will take care of themselves.”
In other news, ahead of the start of the 2024 AFLW season at the end of August, Leitrim’s Aine Tighe has been included in the Fremantle Dockers leadership group.
Experiencing contrasting fortunes, Leinster’s Erone Fitzpatrick has been placed on Carlton’s inactive list for this year.
Fitzpatrick ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in the final round of the 2023 AFLW season and has not yet returned to full fitness.
Meanwhile, AFL executive football boss Laura Kane has confirmed that ball-tracking technology to determine bout whether the oval ball (Sherrin) has touched the post, gone over the goal line, or flicked the fingers of a defender, could be introduced in AFLW this year.
