The Brisbane Lions congratulate our AFLW captain and dual premiership player Breanna Koenen who has been called up to represent Australia in the sold-out 2026 NAB AFLW Australia v Ireland match at North Sydney Oval on Saturday, 1 August.
Koenen replaces North Melbourne veteran and captain Emma Kearney in the 25-player squad after Kearney was ruled out of the historic clash with a hamstring injury.
The 103-game Lion was recently appointed club captain for a sixth consecutive season and was named best on ground in Brisbane’s 2023 AFLW premiership win over Kearney's Kangaroos.
Koenen will join fellow Lions players, Courtney Hodder and Sophie Conway in the Australian side, while Orla O’Dwyer, Jennifer Dunne and Neasa Dooley have been selected to represent Ireland. Lions AFLW senior coach, Craig Starcevich has been appointed as the assistant coach for Ireland and Matt Green is the high performance manager.
Koenen said it was a great honour to be selected in the Australian squad.
“I’m really stoked, it’s going to be great playing alongside a couple of my teammates too,” Koenen said.
“The international game is really exciting for the AFLW, its obviously pretty unique, even for the men’s space.
“The rivalry in club has already started between us Aussies and the players and staff who will represent Ireland, Starce and Greeny (Craig Starcevich and Matt Green) have jumped on the Irish bandwagon.”
The 2026 NAB AFLW Australia v Ireland match will be played under Australian Football rules, using a classic Sherrin football.
Starting at 4.15pm AEST, the match will be broadcast live nationally on Fox Footy, Kayo Sports, Kayo Freebies and Binge.
