Last winter AFL Victoria development officer Tim Shearer was chatting to a group of TAC Cup players from the North Ballarat Rebels when the topic of women's football came up. ''A few of the boys had a bit of a snigger about it,'' Shearer recalled.

But those lads went quiet when one of their youngest teammates, Will Austin, told them that the most talented footballer in the region around his home town of Daylesford was a female.

''Will didn't even think about it,'' Shearer said. ''He just told them, 'Jenna Bruton is our best player,' and that was that.''

Austin had plenty of facts to back up his statement. Not only had Bruton played football against boys while growing up in Trentham, 30 kilometres east of Daylesford, she had dominated them, winning a league goalkicking trophy in the under-13s.

''For young kids like Will, they don't think anything of the girls playing footy because they've played alongside them in the junior ranks themselves,'' Shearer said. ''They see the girls playing and happily acknowledge it.''

Bruton began playing in Trentham's under-11 team when she was just seven after receiving encouragement from her mum and an uncle but once she was too old for the under-13s, Bruton was forced to stop running rings around the boys, so these days she focuses her energy on playing against other girls.

The 17-year-old now takes to the field with Golden Point in the Ballarat Football League's youth girls competition. Her mum drives the minimum two-hour round trips from Trentham to take her to training and games.

Not surprisingly, Bruton emerged as one of the best players in the Ballarat youth girls competition soon after she started playing for Golden Point, and since then she has continued to make a name for herself.

''Jenna is clearly in the best 10 female footballers in Victoria for her age,'' Shearer said.

In the past week Bruton has dominated for the Victoria Country/Tasmania team at the AFL youth girls national championships in Shepparton, with one watcher comparing her style of play to Richmond star Brett Deledio.

Shearer acted as team manager and was impressed by her impact on the field and her attitude off it.
''She's a very quiet and unassuming girl,'' he said.
''She's a perfect role model for the other girls.''
Bruton played in her first national championships last year when Victoria fielded just one team and she was one of the few country-based players to make the cut. Taking part in the competition was a real eye-opener.

''I had no idea how many girls were actually playing footy all over Australia,'' she said. ''And the standard of the games was really high.''

This time around Bruton was among the first players picked when a combined Victoria Country/Tasmania team was formed for the first time. She was named among the best performers in every game, yet afterwards she was more inclined to direct attention towards her teammates like Lily Mithen.

Mithen, a 15-year-old who is the daughter of former Channel Nine sports reporter and Richmond board member Anthony Mithen, drew comparisons with Joel Selwood thanks to the way she attacked the ball, then delivered it with poise.
A passionate Tigers fan like her dad, she became fanatical about playing the game after attending Auskick clinics at Geelong league club Newtown & Chilwell.

''Both sides of my family are footy crazy, so I've just always been around it,'' she said.

Mithen's connection to her family's football history is strong; through her career with Newtown & Chilwell she has worn No. 6, which her grandfather had on his back when he played for the club.

Back when she ran around against the boys, Mithen was so good that she won a league best and fairest in the under-14s.

The feats of Bruton and Mithen helped Vic Country/Tasmania defy the pre-tournament predictions by finishing fourth behind Vic Metro, which won the competition after winning each of its matches.

''The people who came along to watch the games just saw good entertaining games of footy,'' Shearer said.
Although both Bruton and Mithen hope that elite female players will one day be allowed to play against the boys for as long as they can keep up, they are excited by how far girls' football has come in the past few years.

''When I saw girls' footy for the first time, I was blown away,'' Mithen said. ''I never would have thought there were many of us, but around the country there is so much talent and the numbers are going to keep growing. It's really exciting.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age, May 12th 2013

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-shape-of-things-to-come-20130511-2jeuh.html#ixzz2T29E5fBn