Garlett to kick goals in US

Kwinana’s Samantha Garlett has been selected for a special AFL high-performance training camp in the US.

Garlett will join a group of 25 gifted footballers from across the country as they embark on a whirlwind trip of California in October.

They will visit Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego — culminating in a game against the US national Australian Rules team.

The 20-year-old, who plays her football for Melbourne University, is also a student with the Richmond Institute of Sports Leadership and is studying a double diploma in sports development and leadership and management.

Garlett said she was hoping to get onto an AFLW list or even into the Richmond academy.

“The AFLW has opened more doors for women,” Garlett said.

“It’s not just in the playing side; it’s also opened up a lot of other opportunities in the media and coaching.”

Before making the move east Garlett went to Karratha to do cleaning work to save up enough money.

Having played football for only six years, Garlett’s progression through the ranks of junior football has been impressive.

After initially not being able to play football locally, she played a bit of AFL 9s in Karratha as a teenager before moving back to Perth and spending three years with the South Fremantle Football Club.

During a successful three years in which she played in the first grand final for the Rogers Cup and also represented WA twice, Garlett had a year off from playing and ended up coaching the Kwinana Knights under-15s girls side to a premiership during an undefeated season.

In addition to her studies with Richmond, she also gets to work on match days at the club as well as doing clinics with players and members.

“We see players like Dustin Martin around all the time and some days we also run clinics at Punt Road,” she said.

Garlett is set to finish her dual diploma with the club in November.