{"id":41724,"date":"2018-11-02T19:38:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T09:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afldraftcentral.com.au\/?p=41724"},"modified":"2020-04-23T06:45:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:45:56","slug":"taking-opportunities-pays-off-for-katie-lynch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2018\/11\/02\/taking-opportunities-pays-off-for-katie-lynch\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking opportunities pays off for Katie Lynch"},"content":{"rendered":"

IN the midst of Year 12, <\/span>Katie Lynch <\/b>had a lot on her plate. <\/span><\/p>\n

She featured in the TAC Cup Girls competition, represented Vic Metro, played for Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL) Women\u2019s competition and balanced school sport commitments as well. Although it was a difficult situation to be in for Lynch, she says she had no choice but to take those opportunities that came her way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I was a bit under the pump earlier in the year, well at least I put myself under the pump,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cI had the opportunities come my way and I just had to take them and I thought I did that pretty well so it\u2019s got me here. \u201cI\u2019m proud of myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, she finds herself on Collingwood\u2019s AFL Women\u2019s list, with the club selecting her with pick 10 in the draft. Lynch says although it was unexpected, she was relieved to hear her name being called out on draft day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obviously really exciting, probably something I didn\u2019t expect either,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I heard my name get read out and yeah it was just a real relieving feeling I guess but I\u2019m excited to get started.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lynch has already experienced playing for the Magpies, having played with them in the VFLW, meaning she will be able to continue playing with some familiar faces. This also signals a new opportunity for Lynch to mingle with the new draftees, who she regards quite highly. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some really exciting players that we\u2019ve drafted as well,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got <\/span>Jordy Allen<\/b> so I\u2019m just excited, everyone\u2019s great, I know a lot of the faces there which will really help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 18 year-old admits the VFL experience, along with the TAC Cup Girls and AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 competitions, have helped her adapt to different game styles. This is something that she hopes will hold her in good stead for her upcoming stint in the AFL Women\u2019s. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTAC Cup, Metro, VFL, they all bring a different kind of game,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cThey\u2019re each unique in their own way so it was kind of interesting trying to adapt to each game style. \u201cBut at the end of the day, you\u2019re just playing footy so it was good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the simplicity of playing the game, Lynch admits she is is still coming to terms with being an AFL Women\u2019s footballer, not accustomed to the prestigious title. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty surreal, hard to believe, really,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I guess I\u2019ll start believing it once everything really kicks off into pre-season but at the moment, it\u2019s really surreal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up as a Richmond supporter, Lynch has quickly adapted to the black and white, donning the stripes for both the Oakleigh Chargers and Collingwood Magpies this year. Now she will have the opportunity to continue to dominate in those colours at the highest level. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IN the midst of Year 12, Katie Lynch had a lot on her plate. She featured in the TAC Cup Girls competition, represented Vic Metro, played for Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL) Women\u2019s competition and balanced school sport commitments as well. Although it was a difficult situation to be in for Lynch, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":37507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3115,278,8,11595,137],"tags":[157,567,7379,3488,9539,48,138,2802,1880],"class_list":["post-41724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aflw","category-feature-articles","category-news","category-oakleigh-chargers","category-womens","tag-aflw","tag-collingwood","tag-jordy-allen","tag-katie-lynch","tag-nab-league-girls-features","tag-oakleigh-chargers","tag-tac-cup-girls","tag-vflw","tag-vic-metro"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}