Following a successful 2018 season in which they made the George Tooke Shield League Tag semi-finals, the Crookwell She Devils earned another accolade recently, when three players were named in the ACT Oztag Cougars Under 20s side.
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Annika Picker, Annie Croker, and Jayde Della were all selected for the team, which will play at the Senior Oztag Championships in Coffs Harbour in December.
The girls were selected in a two-part process. Initially, scouts were present at Crookwell’s games during the 2018 season, and players who performed strongly were then invited to trials later in the year.
Paddy taught me a lot. I guess I learnt from the best!
- Jayde Della
From those trials, a team was chosen, and it is a testament to the strength of the She Devils that they make up nearly 20 percent of the ACT side.
Della said she was “pretty stoked” with her selection, and was looking forward to representing the ACT with her fellow Crookwell teammates.
“I just didn’t really expect it,” she said.
“It’s good. Me and Annie and Annika have a bit of an on-the-field play together. We’re always together on the field.
“It does [feel more comfortable]; it just feels like I’m playing for Crookwell with two [of the] girls by my side.”
The selection was all the more surprising to the girls due to the fact that it was their first season playing League Tag. Della credited She Devils’ coach Paddy Lenane with the rapid improvement in her game.
“Playing league tag for my first year, I didn’t really expect it at all,” she said.
“Paddy taught me a lot. I guess I learnt from the best!”
Once in Coffs Harbour, Della said that her only goal would be to “give it my all” and hopefully earn selection in the national side.
Lenane said that all three girls had experience playing other sports at a high level – Della has played representative hockey and Picker and Croker, soccer – that will help them withstand the pressure of playing for ACT.
“The three of them are new girls and it’s their first year in league tag, but obviously they’ve got that drive in themselves to be the best they can be in whatever they play,” he said.
“I think they’ll go fairly well. In their previous sports I think they’ve represented that sport in certain divisions, so they do have that experience. I think they’ll handle it fairly well.”
Playing with several older, more experienced teammates for the She Devils will also stand the girls in good stead. “Playing around the older girls in our team calmed them down, too,” Lenane said.
“Annika’s 15-years-old and she took out the Best and Fairest in the Canberra comp, which says something. They can all adapt … It just matures them playing with older people.”