Jacinda Barclay


Jacinda Barclay is an Australian sportswoman who has played baseball, Australian football, and American football at high levels. She has represented the Australian national team in five Women's Baseball World Cups, and played professional football for the Chicago Bliss in the Legends Football League and in the AFL Women's competition. For her success across multiple sports, one writer has called Barclay "the Sonny Bill Williams of women's sport".

Personal life

Barclay grew up in Chidlow, Western Australia, and attended La Salle College., she was working in the professional diving industry as an assistant life support technician, and had aspirations to become a sports psychologist.

Baseball

Barclay spent her entire junior baseball career on boys' teams. A right-arm pitcher, she made her state debut for Western Australia at the age of 15, and the following year was included in the national squad for the first time. Barclay represented the Australian national team in the 2008 World Cup in Japan at the age of 17. She won a silver medal at the 2010 World Cup in Venezuela, and has since played in three more world cups.

Australian football

Barclay began playing Australian football at the age of twelve, although she gave it up for a period in order to concentrate on baseball. At amateur level, she played for periods with in the West Australian Women's Football League and the UNSW Eastern Suburbs Stingrays in the Sydney Women's AFL competition. Barclay represented both Western Australia and NSW/ACT at the AFL Women's National Championships. She was drafted to with the 65th pick overall in the 2016 AFL Women's draft, and made her senior debut for the club in round one of the 2017 season, against at Thebarton Oval.
After playing six games in 2017, Barclay signed for the 2018 season with Greater Western Sydney during the trade period in May 2017.

American football

Barclay began playing American football in 2012, while living in Chicago. Her initial attempts to win a contract in the Legends Football League were thwarted by her visa status. Barclay later signed with the New South Wales Surge for the inaugural 2013–14 season of LFL Australia. She played as a quarterback, leading her team to a title and winning an award as the best offensive player in the league. In 2016, Barclay was scouted by the Chicago Bliss in the main LFL competition in the United States. She won a championship in her first season.

AFLW statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! colspan=3| Career
! 13
! 8
! 6
! 68
! 40
! 108
! 36
! 30
! 0.6
! 0.5
! 5.2
! 3.1
! 8.3
! 2.8
! 2.3