\n News\n <\/p>\n
\n Collingwood AFLW Captain Ruby Schleicher has today informed her teammates of her decision to depart the Club at season\u2019s end and return home to Western Australia.\n <\/p>\n
Collingwood AFLW Captain Ruby Schleicher has today informed her teammates of her decision to depart the Club at season\u2019s end and return home to Western Australia.<\/p>\n
After spending the past decade in Melbourne, Schleicher has made the decision to return to Perth to be closer to family while continuing her football journey in her home state.<\/p>\n
A foundation player of Collingwood\u2019s AFLW program, Schleicher was selected at Pick 137 in the 2016 AFLW Draft before joining the Club as a teenager ahead of the inaugural 2017 season.<\/p>\n
Since making her debut, she has earned All-Australian honours twice, won Collingwood\u2019s Best and Fairest in 2024 and was appointed captain ahead of the 2025 AFLW season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ruby Schleicher said:<\/p>\n
\u201cCollingwood has been my home for my entire adult life. Moving over here at 18 years old, I honestly never thought I\u2019d get the chance to play at the biggest club in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t put into words the gratitude I feel for this place and the role it has played in helping me grow up. Being an 18-year-old coming across, those first couple of years away from home, as someone who is really close to their family, was something I struggled with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a really tough decision for me to make but one that is ultimately the best for where I am in my life and career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family that Collingwood has become for me \u2013 the staff, admin, footy department and the girls I\u2019ve played with \u2013 has meant so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always consider myself a Collingwood person, and thank you to the Magpie Army, who have embraced me, whether it\u2019s walking down the street or at our games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible and I love you all so much. I\u2019m excited for my next chapter, but also for the Club\u2019s next chapter and seeing what\u2019s to come for the girls. I\u2019ll always be their biggest supporter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of everyone at Collingwood, we thank Ruby for her contribution to the Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuby\u2019s journey from arriving at Collingwood as a young player from Western Australia to becoming captain is something she should be incredibly proud of \u2013 she is a leader who cares deeply about her teammates, the Club, our Members and supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuby has represented the black and white with great resilience and character and has played a key role in supporting the next generation of Collingwood players on and off the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are disappointed to see Ruby depart our Club, we respect her decision to return home. We thank Ruby for everything she has given to Collingwood and wish her all the very best for the next chapter.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News Collingwood AFLW Captain Ruby Schleicher has today informed her teammates of her decision to depart the Club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":935014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-935013","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\/935013","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=935013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}