Cora Staunton: Aussie time offered 'huge opportunity to be a professional'

After taking Aussie Rules Football by storm, Mayo's Cora Staunton has announced her retirement from AFLW with the GWS Giants.

Having achieved so much playing football with both Mayo and her club Carnacon, Staunton became the first Irish women to make the move Down Under, and now leaves an incredible legacy.

The 41-year-old made 50 appearances for the Sydney side, scoring 55 goals, which made her the all-time leading goalscorer for the giants, and joint all-time scorer in the league overall.

Despite a horrific double leg break that would have ended the career of most players, Cora Staunton showed incredible strength, mentally and physically, to rally and continue her incredible sporting career.

While its likely Staunton would have continued to set new records if she continued playing, the Mayo women felt now was the right time to step away from the game.

"At the end of the year we have our meetings with the clubs, and I needed a little bit of time to think about it, and I decided I wasn't going to go again. The reason being is the club is probably moving in a little bit of a different direction.

"We had a poor enough season last year, last season we had a change in coach, we had the same coach for the five seasons before that. The club are probably in a little bit of transition, where they are bringing in a lot of youth, a little bit away from competing in finals and winning the Premiership.

"The plan was probably more medium to long term, than short term, and I didn't see myself in the long term."

Despite her apparent natural success in the sport, Staunton explained the hard work involved, adjusting to Aussie rules football when she arrived in 2017.

Having just won another club All-Ireland title with Carnacon, Staunton