St Kilda players Jamie Cripps and Sam Gilbert help Hampton Rover U12s prepare for their half-time match at Eihad

Rovers Girls prepare for the Big Stage

The Hampton Rovers U12 Girls team prepared for their half-time Etihad Stadium game with a special training session on Thursday, featuring players from St Kilda and Sandringham Football Clubs.

As part of AFL Women's Round this weekend, the girls will participate in a game at half-time of the big Western Bulldogs v Carlton clash Sunday night at Etihad Stadium.

Thursday's training session was held at Trevor Barker Oval and involved St Kilda players Sam Gilbert, Jamie Cripps and Sebastian Ross as well as Sandringham Zebras players Jack Beech, Cam Sharp and Anthony Soriano.

The girls are super excited to be playing in front of a huge crowd during Sunday night football. The half-time game will be the first girls' match played during an AFL game featuring suburban football clubs.

The excitement has led to many other girls expressing interest in playing AFL footy and participation levels have increased throughout the year.

Junior girls footy, especially in the southern region, has exploded in popularity over the past two years. What started as an experiment in 2011 has developed into a fully fledged league administered by the SMJFL and featuring three age divisions in 2012.

The Hampton Rovers girls team is coached by Jo Adams with Sam Gilbert and Jack Campion assistant coaches. Felicity Frederico, team manager, has been instrumental in the set up of not only the Rovers team, but junior girls footy as a whole and has also played a big hand in getting the girls playing on the big stage.

Also a big thank you to the St Kilda Football Club and Sandringham Football Club for their involvement in Hampton Rovers girls football.

Republished with permission from the Hampton Rovers Football Club.