Girls champion Queensland at AFL under 12s

BY VELMA GARA

Three young girls have aspirations to playing in the AFLW in future after attending the School Sports Australia (SSA) Australian Football U12 Girls Championships in Albury, New South Wales, last week.

Sulia Ingui, Lathisha Waia and Nahla Moke were members of the Queensland Blaze team who competed against other states and territories in the week-long competition.

Sulia, from Injinoo’s Northern Peninsula Area State College, has connections to Boigu Island.

She hasn’t played club football but loved her fishing, camping and has performed at different festivals around Australia.

Nahla Moke has connections to Senpol Moa and Mer Islands. She played with her school AFL team, due to commitments with basketball and netball.

Only Lathisha has played club football for North Lakes Eels in North Brisbane, and has connections to Saibai and Mer Islands.

The Nationals were very competitive, as the results showed, with NSW and VIC tied for first place, SA and WA tied for third, followed by Queensland.

AFL Cape York Development Officer Keiran Sciberras said the Queensland team did well to record two wins from six games, including a massive 69-6 win over the Northern Territory in the last game of the carnival.

“Sulia competed well throughout the tournament and kicked a goal in the final game,” he said.

“Sulia is proudly supported by Bamaga Enterprises Ltd, NPA State College and the AFL Cape York House Foundation.”

Although Sulia and Lathisha said they would pursue sporting careers with AFLW, Nahla hoped to play WNBL and AFLW, following in Monique Conti’s footsteps.

Conti played for Richmond Football Club and has signed with Melbourne Boomers for the upcoming WNBL 2023/24 season.

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(L-R) Sulia Ingui, Nahla Moke, Lathisha Waia with their Torres Strait flag.