Adelaide Crow Yvonne Bonner will debut for the side in their Round 1 derby against Port Adelaide on Saturday.
The 35-year-old Irish recruit was delivered the exciting news by her toddler, Brid, who visited the club in an emotional moment captured by the Crows’ social media team.
Senior coach Matthew Clarke addressed the group, standing at the front of the room.
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“Obviously Round 1 is an interesting time, it’s kind of a bit of a nervous time … obviously selection is pretty challenging,” he said.
“We’ve had some guests today which has been amazing, but we’ve got one more special guest today – so without further ado we will introduce our special guest.
“Our special guest is Brid,” Clarke smiles.
Yvonne Bonner will make her debut for the Adelaide Crows this weekend. Credit: Instagram
Bonner’s daughter appears with an envelope, to which her already emotional mum says, “Give me a hug”.
Reading out the letter, Bonner says: “Dear Mummy, congratulations on making your Crows debut.”
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The video was posted to the Adelaide Crows social media with the words: ”There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when these two special announcements were made.”
This is Bonner’s second AFLW life, having played with the GWS Giants in 2019 and early 2020 (pre-COVID restrictions and subsequent abandonment of the season).
A mixture of the pandemic and a severe ankle injury saw her return to Ireland, but she said she had always hoped to return to play.
Her dreams became a reality when Adelaide picked her up in the supplementary draft.
“The season (2020) ended pretty quickly, and I was hoping to get back after the injury if the season had continued on,” Bonner told Crows media earlier this year.
“When I returned home, it was always in the back of my mind, would it (playing AFLW) ever happen again?
“I just asked the question, and it worked out, and the Crows wanted to sign me.
“There were a lot of things that needed to line up, but here I am, I’m very grateful it all worked out.”
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