Above - The Army team during a half time pep talk at the Inter-Service Championships
Below - The 3Bde team that won the Inter-Brigade Championship in Darwin
66 | APRIL 2017
And that bond is, in a roundabout way,
why they ended up in AFL rather than
rugby when they were forced to choose.
“We got here last year when
rugby league was already fi nished
and AFL was the only [womens]
sport being played, so that’s
what we did,” Kertisha said.
This year, with both sports
putting on camps at about the
same time, they had to choose.
In the end, it came down to time...
they simply couldn’t fi nd the time
to write the request for permission
to attend either camp, but the AFL
administration provided the extra push
by getting the process started for them.
Kertisha, a rugby league fan all
her life, said her family already
thought she was crazy, so choosing
to play Aussie rules instead of
rugby league, was no big surprise.
Although she always wanted to
join Army, she wasn’t keen on the
jobs on off er when she fi rst applied -
driving trucks or nursing, basically
- but last year when they advertised
that females could go into combat
roles, she responded immediately.
“I must admit, I didn’t think I was
going to make it though,” she said.
Taylah, although she is from
Melbourne, knew more about
boxing than Aussie rules.
She was eyeing off a career as an
Olympic boxer and delayed joining
Army while she explored that option.
“I wanted something that was going
to challenge me, and I wanted to go to
infantry, so it was a while before that
barrier came down anyway,” she said.
She said they were happy
to go with Aussie rules.
“Whichever one we were going to
do, we were going to do together, and
we’re happy it’s AFL,” she said.
Guided by 3Bde coach Rhiannon
Busch, Kertisha and Taylah had
a whale of a time playing in the
inter-brigade tournament in Darwin
recently, where the Townsville
team won handsomely.
Their only experience before that
was a clinic at Hermit Park during
which they played in two games
against Townsville and Cairns sides.
There were some funny moments.
Kertisha was told she would be
playing in the ruck, and she ran
the fi rst couple of steps towards
the fi eld before stopping.
“OMG, I don’t even know
where that is,” she said.
An old hand after a half-dozen
games, now she confi dently runs
straight to the middle of the fi eld.
“I run everywhere except in our
own 50 metres,” Kertisha said.
“All the forwards are there, and I
don’t want to get in their way.”