Svarc spark: Corowa’s sporting sisters Cathy and Ruby Svarc are both looking forward to playing in this Saturday’s AFLW Grand Final for Brisbane Lions against North Melbourne at IKON Park.
Corowa’s renowned sporting sisters Cathy and Ruby Svarc are aiming to play in their second winning AFLW Grand Final together this Saturday evening.
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The talented sisters were part of the Brisbane Lions’ epic preliminary final win over Adelaide at Brighton Homes Arena on Saturday. If the Lions defeat favourites North Melbourne it will be the first time an AFLW team will have won back-to-back premierships.
The efforts of the Svarc sisters greatly boosted their team’s overall performance, with the Lions winning at home 7.2 (50) to 4.8 (32) victory over a determined Crows outfit.
Cathy Svarc will be important in the midfield for the Lions on Sunday in shutting down the Kangaroos’ ability to create space. Photo courtesy of Brisbane Lions.
Cathy was among her side’s best players, racking up an impressive 14 possessions, one goal and 4 tackles.
Early in her career, the uber-athletic Svarc was an out-and-out tagger – one of the best in the business. Her evolution over the past two seasons into a two-way midfielder has changed the game for Brisbane.
It was from her boot that the reigning premiers surged over the line against Hawthorn in the first qualifying final a fortnight ago, when she kicked two crucial goals after being thrown forward.
The 33-year-old is now a dangerous magnet at coach Craig Starcevich’s disposal and a point of difference for the Lions.
Svarc said her early days as a tagger helped shape the player she was today.
“The first couple of years doing that role I learned a lot, getting to play on the best players in the comp,” she said.
“The last few years I’ve spent building my offensive game, which has been really fun.”
Not to be outdone, younger sister Ruby also gave a lion-hearted performance with nine possessions in the preliminary final with some important touches during the game.
Ruby Svarc will play in her third AFLW Grand Final on Saturday. Ruby is pictured here in action during the AFLW Preliminary Final match between the Brisbane Lions and the Adelaide Crows at Brighton Homes Arena in Brisbane, last Saturday. Photo: AAP.
Incredibly Saturday’s grand final match will be Cathy’s sixth grand final appearance, she played in the 2021 and 2023 grand final wins.
In 2021 Cathy was named in the All-Australian Squad. She has since grown into one of the side’s most prolific midfielders, and hard to beat one-on-one.
Cathy has had another strong, consistent season playing only missing one game in round nine.
Ruby now aged 31, also played every game this year for the Lions in her most consistent season since being picked in the 2020 NAB AFLW Draft.
The fast-running outside midfielder has worked hard to be a regular player in the side over the last four seasons since making her AFLW debut during round three against Carlton in January 2022.
Ruby and Cathy grew up on their family farm outside of Corowa with their three other siblings, playing a range of sports locally.
Both are well known for their stellar A Grade netball careers playing for Corowa-Rutherglen. They last played together in 2014 before Cathy moved to Geelong for her physiotherapy career and Ruby moved to Melbourne to study nutrition and dietetics.
Cathy headed north in 2018 for her work career and played footy on the side for Wilston Grange. Shortly after, she caught the eye of selectors and was drafted by the Lions in 2019 with Ruby joining her 12 months later.
“We come from a big family, and we lived out on a big farm,” Cathy told AFLW.
“We’ve always been super competitive and loved to play all sorts of different games and sports.
“We always enjoyed having a competition and testing each other out.
“We always have been AFL fans since we can remember, we grew up watching it all the time. It was such a big part of our lives in Northeast Victoria.
“It wasn’t until AFLW started that we thought it was maybe something we could try to pursue.
“We’ve always played competitive sport; we both always wanted to play elite sport in some form.”
Brisbane and North Melbourne will face off in the 2024 NAB AFLW Season Eight Grand Final this Saturday at Carlton’s IKON Park.
The sold-out match will start at 8.45pm and will be broadcast on the Seven Network, Fox Footy and Kayo as well as live streamed on womens.afl and the AFLW Official app.
Sunday’s match will be the sixth time the Lions have qualified for a Grand Final in nine seasons.
Brisbane Lions players celebrate winning the 2023 AFLW Grand Final match at IKON Park in Melbourne. Corowa’s Cathy Svarc is pictured in the middle behind the cup and sister Ruby is pictured in the front row, third in from the left. Photo AAP.
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