PORT ADELAIDE vice-captain Ange Foley will play her 50th AFLW game this Sunday in front of a home crowd at Alberton Oval.
The AFLW stalwart has made a memorable impact in the midfield since joining the Power, with a strong and consistent presence on the wing.
“Fifty games this week…it's exciting, it's going to be an exciting game on Sunday,” Foley said.
The 33-year-old is a teacher and sports coordinator at Seymour College in Adelaide’s south-east and has felt huge support from her students across the season.
“I was chatting to a few girls today (at school) and they're excited,” she said.
“They're going to bring their signs that say ‘Miss Foley’…they're always down here, not just for my 50th. I love the support from them, it's great.”
Reflecting on her achievements and highlights from seven seasons in the competition, the two-time AFLW premiership player has plenty of proud moments.
“Of course, the premierships are always going to be etched in the back of my mind as pretty proud moments, (especially) being a part of the first one in 2017,” Foley said.
“My time at the Crows obviously was a really great time but to finish here at Port Adelaide and continue here on my journey, I'm proud to be a part of this club in its inaugural year. When I look back and reflect, whenever it is that I retire, there's going to be some pretty amazing, special moments that I'll remember forever.”
Foley missed AFLW season six after rupturing her ACL in the 2021 grand final, but the mature competitor now appreciates the silver lining.
“Injury is a part of football (and) I'm probably grateful for the injury, if I had to be honest,” she said.
“It taught me a lot about being patient and learning to recover and do all the right things. It also taught me during that time to be really grateful for the opportunity that I've got. I'm playing some great footy. I feel great, my body feels great, I feel as fit as I ever have, so that taught me a lot of lessons.”
Foley was disappointed with the result at RSEA Park on Sunday, with Port suffering a tight two-point loss that went down to the wire.
“It's about us putting four quarters together and I think we are absolutely capable of it,” she said.
“I think we were disappointed last week that we couldn’t do that. St Kilda were beatable, Carlton were beatable (in Round 3). There were lots of teams during the year that we fell short of that we could have beaten so I think that's a bit of fire in our belly for that last game.
“There's nothing to lose. It's Alberton, it's a home crowd…it's my 50th. Why not go out there and win.”
Looking at the season as a whole, Foley feels proud of her young group, despite the win-draw-loss record.
“I think back to Round 1 and the excitement around Port Adelaide putting together their first AFL women's team and we've developed and grown over those 10 games,” she said.
“So, I think in the end, we've put lots of puzzle pieces together in a short space of time and we're pretty happy with what we've put out on the park every week. We haven't known each other for too long and that's only going to get better so as soon as we put those four quarters together, I'm excited for what we can do.”
