Best and fairest medal named in honour of 'gobsmacked' Riverina stalwart

The league will host the first women's football vote count this Friday where the first Julie McLean Medal will be awarded to the top player of the season.

A stalwart of the game in the region, McLean said there have been plenty of tears since she received the phone call with the news.

"I was gobsmacked," McLean said.

"I was a bit speechless when they said that they'd like it in my honour, I sort of questioned them 'are you sure?'

"To the people that made that decision, I'm very grateful for it, I'm extremely proud and honoured.

"I know my family and extended family that hold that McLean name, they're all extremely proud, there's been a few tears this week that's for sure."

After more than 20 years in the game, McLean has watched the opportunities for young girls and women to play football flourish since she fell in love with the game as a child at home in Boree Creek.

Making her way to Canberra she joined Ainslie in the club's second year with a women's side.

Playing in the tri-colours through the turn of the century, in 2003 she was a co-founder of the Riverina Lions.

The first club allowing women to play football in the region, they went on to become hugely successful in the Canberra league, their impact still felt across the Southern NSW Women's League today.

With nine National Women's Championships appearances, three best and fairest wins, and a comeback from what for many would have been a career ending injury, it's no wonder AFL Riverina have selected her name for the award.

Choosing the name Riverina, and not Wagga, was a conscious one.

From her early days in the sport she wanted everyone to feel like they could take the field.

"When I moved back to the region [from Canberra] there was still no football, it was time to start the chance for women to play locally," McLean said.

"We took on the name Riverina for a reason, so it wasn't just people thinking it would be Wagga only, we had girls from all over, across a couple of hundred kilometre radius that would join us each week.

"We wanted to be broad with it and bring in people from all over, and in the early days the numbers were low, so we did need people from everywhere.

"Now, you look at all those little towns that were included with us have now got their own teams like Griffith, Temora, Ardlethan, Narrandera, it's great to see."

With plenty of family still living in and around Narrandera, with more than 250 games as under her belt, including over 200 as Riverina Lions' captain, McLean played her final games with the Eagles.

Running out as the club's inaugural captain in 2020, alongside her niece, her final season was more of a fizzle than a bang.

Though she assured she is happy in her retirement, and won't be returning to the field.

"Unfortunately there was no fairy tale finish because it was a COVID-19 interrupted season, one week we were playing and the next it was finished," she said.

"To have started my career over there, it was really special to get back home, around people and to do something I never thought would be possible, was to play alongside my niece for our hometown.

"It was really special."

From 4am starts to carpool to Canberra to rocking up for a game after a day at work, McLean was an incredibly important connection to many women joining the game.

McLean, and her Lions', impact remains seen in today's AFL Riverina women's league.

While the Riverina Lions are in recess, they did compete for a time in the Southern NSW Women's League, and many of their senior players are scattered throughout the now 16-team strong competition.

But it's not just locally that McLean is watching women's football thrive.

Watching her children grow up with access to both women's and men's elite competitions, she said they don't look for men or women, they just love footy and it's stars, regardless of gender.

"It's really nice to look back at actually," she said.

"Going from no female football available in the region to either having to travel out of town to play, the local competition started on low numbers and now have full fields.

"To see that there's a pathway for young girls now, they can start in Auskick and they can watch women running around and watch it on the TV, they know they can make it all the way, is amazing."

While McLean has hung her boots up, her daughter Albie, now six, is just pulling hers on.

Though she's got at least nine seasons before she makes a senior debut, McLean can't help but hope that one day she'll be wearing the medal around her neck.

Julie McLean will present the 2024 Southern NSW Women's League best and fairest winner with the medal on Friday night.