Surman back at The Cattery

GEELONG’S newest addition to the Cattery says it is a dream to come back to the region following a trade package between the Cats and Port Adelaide.

Kate Surman was sent to the Cats in a deal that sent Maddy Keryk and pick 12 to South Australia, and now the Ballarat local is ecstatic to pull on the hoops for season 8 of the AFLW.

“I already feel connected to the club without being down there,” Surman said last month.

“It will be weird, because the last time I was at the stadium it was called Kardinia Park, when I was a little tacker, where the grandstand used to be grass, and you used to stand, and I probably had a woollen jumper on.

“It’s not really going to feel real until I get down there, but I just want to lap it all up.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I can’t wait to go and play some footy.”

Surman began her playing career at the Gold Coast Suns, a little over an hour’s drive from Tweed, before being selected to represent Port Adelaide in 2022 to play with the expansion side.

She felt it was long overdue to call Victoria home again, and with so many of her family and closest friends in Victoria, it was time to look at making the return back to her home state.

“I’ve got a lot of family and friends in Victoria, and one of my best mates just had a baby, so just that opportunity to be around there for her, and even just to hang out with friends that are more like family to me (was appealing),” Surman added.

“I think that if I’m going to spend some time away from my other half, I might as well be in a place where they are. I’m excited for that.

“I enjoyed my time in Adelaide, (but) once I figured out, ‘I probably should go to Victoria’, then I was like, ‘Why don’t I try to go and see if I can play for Geelong’?”

Surman is one of three new Cats to be added to Geelong’s list for season 8, following the club securing the signatures of Irish pairing Aishling Moloney and Anna Rose Kennedy.