The nominations for the Essendon Women's Network's Fujitsu General Australia Football Woman of the Year has been announced for 2023.

Laura Kane, Fiona Sessarago, Courtney Cramey are all in the running to win, with the award-winner to be announced on September 28 at Crown Palladium. Fujitsu General Australia Football Woman of the Year Award recognises women who have made a significant contribution to the game of Australian Rules.

Finalists have also been announced for the Essendon Women’s Network Community Award with Pauline Butler, Justine Grahame, Colleen Lewer and Amanda Flynn all in the running. The Community Award recognises women who work in a volunteer capacity in the industry, and who make a significant contribution to the game and their community.

EWN Co-Chair Lisa Egan said this year's nominees are all deserved.

“The EWN was delighted to receive such a large number of nominees for this year’s Awards, and choosing the finalists was no easy feat," Egan said.

"The quality of nominations shows the incredible depth of talent within the Aussie Rules community, and women making incredible contributions to their clubs and leagues at all levels. The EWN is proud to again host the Awards which were first presented in 1998."

An independent judging panel consisting of the 2022 Fujitsu General Australia Football Woman of the Year Kelli Underwood, pioneering journalist Corrie Perkin and AFL Commissioner Simone Wilke will select the winners.

The award is part of EWN's Grand Final Comedy Debate. Hear from key industry figures as they dissect the upcoming Grand Final, as well as first class entertainment from some of Australia's best comedians including Lehmo, Claire Hooper, Lawrence Mooney, Adam Rozenbachs and Dane Simpson as they debate the topic of whether 'footy has gone soft'.

Tickets for the event are on sale now here. 

FUJITSU GENERAL AUSTRALIA FOOTBALL WOMAN OF THE YEAR 

View the nominations for each nominee below.

Laura Kane

Laura has a long history in the Australian Rules community dating back to 2002. Her recent appointment as the first woman in the league’s history to run the AFL Football Department is the culminations of over 20 years of involvement in the football community. Her more publicly known roles have included working at North Melbourne FC (from 2016) to develop the women's team and broader football programs, before moving into football operations and strategy roles for both men's and women's football. She then joined the AFL to work with Brad Scott and Andrew Dillon in the AFL Football Department, which she now leads.

Laura was instrumental in helping North Melbourne FC secure a license for an AFLW team. Her knowledge of women’s football in Australia and her understanding of the personal dynamics impacting women in sport brough a critical element of awareness to the club. She played an important role in helping the female players integrate with the broader club and build connections and relationship across the organization. Laura has become a very public figure not only for women in football but women in the broader community. She is a fantastic ambassador for women in general. She has demonstrated through her actions her ability to navigate her way and succeed in a male-dominated industry.

Fiona Sessarago

Fiona was the first full-time female development officer in the country when she joined the AFL Queensland team in 2001. After four years as a Gold Coast development officer, she moved to AFL Queensland headquarters at Coorparoo as Participation Program Officer. She worked with AFL Queensland Talent Manager Mark Browning to set up the Brisbane Lions Academy in 2007.

In 2012, she won the prime job as AFL National Auskick Manager, firstly based at AFL House then Gold Coast SUNS. Later she became Gold Coast Regional Manager, operating under the AFL Queensland umbrella from 2016-18 while playing a key role in the SUNS’ bid for an AFL Queensland licence at the end of 2018. She was an obvious and ideal choice as the first employee in the SUNS’ AFLW program – Head of Women’s Football, the role Fiona still holds today.

Fiona has been a key figure throughout the Gold Coast SUNS’ entire AFLW journey, playing a leading role in the club’s bid for a license in 2018 before being appointed as the first employee in the SUNS AFLW program. Fiona currently holds the role of Head of Women's Football. The passion that Fiona shows every day for the development and success of the SUNS women's team is exceptional.

Fiona is a recent recipient of the Queensland Football Hall of Fame (July 2023) and a finalist in the Gold Coast Women of the Year 2018. Fiona is well respected amongst the playing group, staff and industry leaders in the AFL and a worthy nominee for the Fujitsu General Australia Football Woman of the Year. 

Courtney Cramey

Courtney's engagement in the Australian Rules Community has been truly remarkable. She's been deeply involved in various aspects that showcase her commitment and leadership within the community. Courtney's leadership shone brightly when she captained MPFC to three consecutive premierships from 2014 to 2016. Her impact went beyond the field, as she also mentored future AFLW star Ebony Marinoff during their time together at Morphettville Park.

Currently, her coaching journey includes roles as an Assistant Coach in the AFLW with the Adelaide Crows and as the Head Coach of the Adelaide Crows Next Generation Girls Academy Program. These roles emphasise her dedication to shaping the future of the sport through coaching and guidance.

Courtney is a much loved player and leader in the Adelaide Crows AFLW program, including playing an important role as a player in two Premierships. Adelaide's players flock to Courtney to ask for advice and to be set a program to help them with any areas they are seeking improvement in.

EWN COMMUNITY AWARD – FINALISTS

Amanda Flynn

Amanda is the Director of St Mary’s Sporting Club Female Football section and works tirelessly in all aspects of football administration, planning and logistics to ensure the success of our female program. She was involved in creating our club's first Female Football Strategic Plan aligned with the AFL Womens Football Vision 2021-2030. She has championed the female football program and this year we have a record number of 8 teams and are the only club in the Geelong region to have a female team in every age group from U9s to Seniors.  This year we have a record number of 192 female footballers. 

Amanda has worked tirelessly to ensure that our club is an inclusive and positive space for all women and girls involved in our football program. In 2021, she implemented a mentoring program to link senior and junior players.  Seniors spent time training and mentoring juniors as well as attending each other’s matches.

Amanda established a Scholarship with a portion of every senior female football club membership apportioned towards supporting a worthy young female player who may need financial assistance to participate in football. Further, Amanda organised the Pride Round games over the last 4 years.  This included a whole club Pride Education session this year with a facilitator to discuss the importance of inclusion and diversity.

Colleen Lewer

Colleen has been pivotal in the support and growth of the women’s team at Nathalia Football Netball Club. Colleen is the definition of someone who wears many hats – from the canteen organisation, team managing, committee member, past player, trainer – she has done and is doing it all while holding the club position as Women’s Football Coordinator.

Her willingness to get in and get the job done is a testament to her work ethic and the person she is, she has the passion we wish everyone held. She is also working with the players to give back to the club overall and do extras at the club level, which is fantastic in terms of hopefully recruiting future volunteers for the club, which is great for the game overall.

Colleen has helped shape the club and continues to work across the club at the committee level to drive female participation and opportunities for those involved and those coming to the club. One of the biggest areas she has been influential in is creating a welcoming culture for females coming into the club.

Pauline Butler

In the rural region of Wimmera Mallee, football and netball are managed in combination as all clubs are Football & Netball Clubs Incorporated.  Pauline Butler has held almost every executive position at club land, League or Association level across 2 decades of volunteering.  Notably she was part of a 3-person Amalgamation Working Party for the Wimmera Football League and Wimmera Netball Association that sat from 2018-2020 to explore, create and implement an amalgamation between the two entities. 

Pauline has strong governance knowledge, people management skills and a passion for community sport.  Pauline is dynamic in her actions and very much a "can do" person and if you mentioned her name in the region many people will know her for the great work she is doing for local football.

Justine Grahame

Justine has played a very active role within the Australian Rules Football community through her role as President of the South Melbourne Districts Junior Football Club (SMJFC) for two years and previously was Director of the Girls Football program at SMJFC for two years. In these roles, Justine has been instrumental in significantly growing participation in junior football particularly girls. As detailed further in subsequent questions, SMJFC fielded over 150 female participants in 2023, up around 50% on 2022 participation levels – with Justine playing a critical role in these outcomes.

Justine is also very active in promoting junior football through her engagements with partner clubs (Port Melbourne), the South Metro Junior Football League (SMJFL) and other parties like Parks Victoria – advancing the objectives and interests of Australian rules football, encouraging participation at all levels and recognising its broader community benefits. Justine has also worked to promote girls footy with other stakeholders, including appearing in AFL and SMJFL promotions and events.

Under Justine’s leadership, the Club has designed and developed a strong and enduring girls’ football program that has transformed numerous aspects of the Club’s existing sports programs and set the Club up for future growth and success with a more inclusive and diverse participant base.

Women are now involved at every level of the junior football program from the Committee to the match day officials. Through Justine’s focus and vision, the Club has established the foundations for a strong and inclusive girls’ football program. The initiatives adopted by the Club are a template for re-evaluating the drivers of the existing mixed and boys’ footy programs and for building girls’ sports programs for other sports within the club.