{"id":853283,"date":"2026-08-13T02:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853283\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T02:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:44:13","slug":"three-aflw-debuts-for-cats-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853283\/","title":{"rendered":"Three AFLW Debuts for Cats\u2019 Season Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Announcement\n <\/p>\n

\n There will be plenty to celebrate on Saturday afternoon as Geelong commences their 2026 AFLW season at Marvel Stadium\n <\/p>\n

The Geelong Cats are pleased to announce that Round 1 of the 2026 NAB AFLW season will see Evie Cowcher, Priya Bowering and Emma Murray make their AFLW Debuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evie Cowcher joined the Cats with their\u00a0first round\u00a0pick (#11) in the 2025 Telstra AFLW draft from\u00a0Peel Thunder. <\/p>\n

The\u00a019-year-old\u00a0boasts\u00a0an impressive junior resume, awarded All-Australian honours in under 16s and 18s, winning Western Australia\u2019s MVP award at both age groups.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cowcher has slotted right into AFLW level, impressing\u00a0across match simulations and practice matches in\u00a0pre-season.<\/p>\n

GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – JULY 27: Evie Cowcher of the Cats poses for a photo during the Geelong Cats AFLW 2026 Official Team Photo Day at GMHBA Stadium on July 27th, 2026 in Geelong, Australia. (Photo by James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n

\u00a0The tough and tenacious defender is powerful around the contest,\u00a0using her\u00a0athleticism\u00a0and footy IQ to halt the opposition\u2019s\u00a0attack and drive the ball in transition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tasmanian product Priya Bowering, taken with the Club\u2019s second pick in the 2025 Telstra AFLW Draft, is an exciting midfielder\u00a0who was touted as one of the most\u00a0well-rounded\u00a0players in the draft crop.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also with an impressive junior resume, Bowering averaged 19.5 disposals, 4.2 clearances and five tackles per game while representing the Allies, claiming their MVP award and All-Australian honours. <\/p>\n

A player who excels around the stoppages and is an aerial threat, Bowering will be a player to watch this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geelong\u2019s latest Irish recruit Emma Murray will make her AFLW debut\u00a0just three months after arriving in Australia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Captain of her home Gaelic Football team, Waterford, Murray won her first All Star award after a stellar 2025 campaign, becoming the first Waterford player to win a Ladies\u2019 Football All Star award since 2007. Murray\u2019s dynamic running ability and impressive body of work over the pre-season have earned her a spot in Geelong\u2019s Round 1 side. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Geelong\u2019s full AFLW Round 1 team will be announced\u00a0on Thursday at 6.20pm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cats take on the Kangaroos\u00a0in a double header\u00a0this Saturday at\u00a0Marvel\u00a0Stadium at\u00a01.00pm.\u202fTickets are available through Ticketmaster.<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Announcement There will be plenty to celebrate on Saturday afternoon as Geelong commences their 2026 AFLW season at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-853283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}