Crows AFL Women’s recruit Marijana Rajcic will find inspiration in a famous Club number in her inaugural season in the competition.
Rajcic, a former captain of Adelaide United in the W-League, was a big fan of Crows legend Mark Ricciuto growing up and was naturally keen to snap up the famous number No.32 at West Lakes.
The 28-year-old teacher had added incentive after she was selected at pick no. 32 in the 2017 AFL Women’s Draft.
“When I joined Norwood Football Club in the SANFL Women’s competition last year my team manager told me I reminded her of ‘Roo’ in the way I played, which was obviously a huge compliment,” Rajcic said.
“He was a player I really admired growing up and when I was also drafted at pick number 32, I just knew it had to be my number.”
West Australian Rheanne Lugg will pull on No.45 – a number she has played in for the last decade.
The 27-year-old first donned the number when she played with Crows co-captain Chelsea Randall at Swan Districts. She also wore No.45 with the Western Australian State team, in the first AFL Women’s exhibition match (2013) for the Western Bulldogs and in the All Australian team in the same year.
“When I first arrived at Swan Districts they only had a few numbers left. My favourite player was David Wirrapanda from West Coast because I wanted to play just like him as a running wing,” Lugg said.
“So the closest number was 45 because 44 was unavailable. After all of the experiences I have had, I recently decided to get 45 tattooed on my calves so I guess I’d better stick with it!”
Jess Allan, the Crows’ first pick in the AFLW Draft, will retain the no. 25 which she has worn for Glenelg in the SANFL Women’s competition, as well as with local club Salisbury in the Adelaide Footy Women’s League.
The 184cm ruck/forward also donned the number when playing with the Allies – a team featuring the best talent from SA, Tasmania and the Northern Territory – in the Under-18 National Championships.
Northern Territory-based rookie Calista Boyd has also chosen a number which has proven lucky in her short football career – No.12, the number she was selected in this year’s AFLW Draft.
Fellow rookie Becchara Palmer, who has represented Australia at the Olympics in beach volleyball, has stuck with her volleyball number and favourite number, No.18.
Similarly, the Club’s second pick in this year’s draft, Jasmyn Hewett, has selected No.20 which was the first number she was ever given at the NT State Academy.
Hewett, who grew up playing netball in regional South Australia and only started playing football professionally when she moved to Darwin last year, said she was rapt with the opportunity.
“The number 20 has brought me very good fortune so far so I had better stick with it I think!” she said.
The Crows women's jumpers will feature the gold AFL logo on the front and gold 'W' on the back in 2018 to acknowledge the Club's AFLW triumph last season.
The gold AFL logo will feature on the Club's AFLW jumpers in 2018
New playing numbers:
2 Eloise Jones
12 Calista Boyd
15 Ruth Wallace
18 Becchara Palmer
20 Jasmyn Hewett
21 Brianna Walling
25 Jess Allan
32 Marijana Rajcic
45 Rheanne Lugg
