AFTER two AFL-sanctioned matches with Melbourne, Kaitlyn Ashmore has made the transition to the Western Bulldogs.
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Ashmore was drafted to the Dogs with pick number 13 in the Women’s AFL Draft at Etihad Stadium on Monday night.
The talented defender was delisted after the Demons’ inaugural clash against the Dogs and put in a huge pre-season to be selected as a top-10 draft pick for the Dees last year.
Ashmore is a Vic Country representative and plays for Melbourne University in the Victorian Women’s Football League premier division.
The Dogs also took Emma King with the first pick in the draft.
At 185 centimetres, King was one of the tallest players in the draft and was a highly contested player, with both clubs lacking in the ruck department.
More than 260 women from throughout Australia, with a few international candidates, nominated for the draft.
Candidates took part in state trial games in the past month under the watchful eyes of Melbourne head coach Michelle Cowan and Collingwood premiership player Craig Starcevich, the new head coach for Western Bulldogs.
The Demons and Bulldogs each kept six players from their 2014 lists, headlined by inaugural number one pick Daisy Pearce at Melbourne and Bulldogs captain Aasta O’Connor.
This year, clubs will play two games, the first at the MCG on May 24 and the second at Etihad Stadium on August 16, both as curtain-raisers to Melbourne-Western Bulldogs AFL matches.
There will be more opportunity for women’s game hopefuls with a mini-draft before the second match.
Meanwhile, Vic Country has named former Rebels academy footballer Lily Mithen as captain for the AFL national youth girls championships.
Fellow Rebels academy products Ainslie Kemp and Temikka Beeston will be Mithen’s deputies.
AFL Goldfields junior academy head coach Shaun O’Loughlin will lead the Vic Country youth girls campaign, with Rebels academy coach Jeff Whittaker as his assistant. Both are assistant coaches of AFL women’s teams – O’Loughlin with Melbourne and Whittaker with the Bulldogs.