By Terry Wilson
SUFERS Paradise Demonettes player Georgia Rankin and four of her young team mates proved to be lucky charms for their senior men counterparts on Saturday.
With their QWFA season over, the five young women volunteered to be match-day support staff when Surfers took on Palm Beach Currumbin in a Coast derby at Salk Oval.
Georgia took the most senior role, that of runner, and it turned out a winner for the visitors who broke a 12-year hoodoo that the Demons had at the venue.
It is understood that a team having a female runner was a first for a Gold Coast men’s club – and Rankin now wants to see more of the action in the pink gear.
Certainly Surfers coach Brad Moore had no hesitation kin using Georgia as one of his two runners – the other was club president Jason Bower.
“It’s a great opportunity with the way the AFL is going with more and more women getting involved,” Moore said.
“Georgie is one of ours who can hopefully go to a higher level.
“And it’s a great experience for her to be out on the ground in a senior men’s game to see just how fast it is and how a game is actually played.
“So hopefully it’s good for her development as a player herself.”
There was the matter of Georgia being a runner for the team in which her brother Paddy plays.
“It’s probably going to be more interesting for her brother Paddy who will start on a wing.,” Moore said pre-match.
“So I’ll just have to be mindful of the type of messages that Paddy’s going to receive from Georgie.”
