QBE Sydney Swans Academy athlete Amelia Martin will make her AFLW debut on Saturday afternoon when the Sydney Swans take on the Gold Coast Suns at People First Stadium. 

The 18-year old forward, who hails from Wollongong, was drafted by the Swans with pick 56 in the 2024 AFLW draft.

She joined the QBE Swans Academy when she was just ten years old and is the first player from the inaugural Youth Girls program, which started in 2018, to play for the Sydney Swans.

"Amelia is the first Basil Sellers scholarship recipient to come through and play a game so it's very big for the club," senior coach Scott Gowans said.

"Basil's very dear to us and means a lot, the QBE Academy program it's been so good to us, and it just develops the players playing a similar game plan, a similar philosophy, which is really important and just has them ready to go and, yeah, couldn't be happier for her."

Martin becomes the fifth QBE Sydney Swans Academy player to play for the Sydney Swans, following in the footsteps of Ruby Sargent Wilson, Kiara Beasley, Ella Heads, Holly Cooper and is seventh overall to play AFLW (Immy Brown, Richmond and Ellie Veerhuis, Gold Coast).

A Swans fan growing up, Martin said playing for the club she has grown up supporting means everything to her.

“It's hard to encapsulate with words how much it means to me," Martin said.

"The Swans have been my life really. From being a diehard supporter to now playing with them. I just don’t know any other way than the Swans."

Gowans said he expected the eighteen-year-old to come in and make an immediate impact.

"She's quite quick off the mark, great hands and a beautiful kick for goal, so we're hoping to see that she can take the game on," Gowans said.

"More importantly, though, her forward pressure stuff's very important for us as well so she crashes packs and brings the ball to ground for others to come and sweep on the ball."

Forward Rebecca Privitelli has been omitted.

Midfielder Tanya Kennedy will play her 25th AFLW game after joining the side as an injury replacement player on the eve of the 2023 season.

Gowans said the Irishwoman's journey to the milestone was a testament to her hard work.

"She started as a train-on and came into the squad, and it just shows you, doesn't it, that if you work hard enough good things happen and she just works at everything on and off the field," Gowans said.

"She had a lot to learn about the game of football and how to structure and play, and has done it superbly.

"And now, you speak to any opposition player she's played on, she's hard to play on and what she's added this year is her offensive game, so she's now got the defensive stuff right, but then it's the offence that she's added to her game, so a really important player for us."

Sydney plays Gold Coast on Saturday, August 21, at People First Stadium, with the first bounce to get underway at 3.05pm.

There have also been three changes to the AFL side to face West Coast. View the team here.