Cats’ AFLW gun Darby gets behind Suns’ new academy

SURFCOAST Suns’ new junior high performance academy will help inaugural senior men’s coach Trent Rogers identify talent for the club’s entry into the Bellarine Football Netball League in 2026.

The five-week program, which starts in May, also presents as an exciting opportunity for promising juniors to learn from two big names of the footy world.

Former Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney will help Rogers with the boys’ program while Geelong AFLW ruck/forward Kate Darby will lead the girls’ sessions at Torquay’s Polwarth Oval.

Rogers, who has almost two decades of experience in high performance, previously worked with AFL draftees in the Talent League.

He said it was important to help players understand their bodies and that injury prevention was “huge”.

“You want to be able to set these guys up for long-term success,” he said.

Darby, 34, is an inaugural Cat and has played 54 games since making her AFLW debut in 2017.

“I want to make sure we still have heaps of fun, but it’s just about showing them if they want to take that next step there are a few things they can have in their toolbelt,” she said.

McCartney, who coaches Port Melbourne in the VFL, has a holiday house in Torquay and Darby has lived in the town for the past decade.

There will be up to 24 boys and up to 16 girls in each program and they will be drawn from the under-14 to under-18 age groups.

Academy director Mark Tobias said the Geelong Falcons had committed to one session to identify prospects.