It’s hard to know which has grown faster, GWS Giants’ teenage AFLW ruckman Erin McKinnon, or the code she has embraced.
At 18 years of age and 189 cms, McKinnon, the joint AFLW Rising Star for this week along with Fremantle’s Ashley Sharp, is both the youngest and tallest player in the fledgling competition.
It’s a measure of how quickly the code has developed in Sydney that a few years back, McKinnon’s family had to help form a girls team so she could play.
“My brother started playing Auskick for our local team, the Mosman Swans and so I was really jealous because I wanted to play,” said McKinnon, whose father Bruce represented Australia in volleyball.
“I went down to the club and they didn’t actually have a girls team but they said if I could get enough girls to come along, then they will pay for our registration and give us uniforms.
“‘We got started and my mum actually coached the first team because there was no-one who could coach.
‘We essentially built that up and now we’ve got two teams in two different age groups and we’re getting three teams this year.
“It’s grown so much. When I started playing there was one competition, there was four teams in it.”
McKinnon piled up over 30 hitouts in the Giants draw with Fremantle last weekend, when GWS earned their first points after two losses.
“I felt like I should be on the other side of the fence, cheering the girls on,” McKinnon said.
“‘I didn’t expect to be drafted, especially because I’m quite young.
“‘When I did get drafted I just assumed they were bringing me along as a training player that they would give me a few minutes game experience each week to develop me up until I was older.
‘I definitely did not expect to be their starting ruckman and to play such a pivotal role in the team.”
With the Giants women training at the opposite end of the day to their mens team, she has yet to tap into the knowledge of her GWS male counterpart, Shane Mumford.
“I”ve been a massive fun of Mummy’s, I’ve seen him around the club sometimes and I’m still in awe,” she said.
