Star Weekly - Wyndham - 20th December 2023

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20 DECEMBER, 2023

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Merry Christmas, everyone! As excited kids across the west eagerly count down the days until Santa visits, preps from Braybrook’s Dinjerra Primary School are soaking up the last days of their first year of school by enjoying Christmas themed activities, inattentive to the rush of last-minute preparations as the holiday draws closer. As the end of 2023 draws near, the team at Star Weekly would like to wish our readers and advertisers a Merry Christmas and safe and happy 2024. The first edition of the new year will be published on January 10. The office will reopen on January 2.

Dinjerra Primary School preps: Florencia, Marianne and Tobias. (Damjan Janevski) 378530_02

Weston-Turner number one By Harper Sercombe Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner is staying in the west with the Western Bulldogs selecting the Western Jets’ gun with pick one of Monday’s AFLW draft. The 18-year-old known for her explosive speed, impressive aerial abilities and booming right boot said she didn’t expect to find herself in the position she is in. While injuries riddled the athletic forwardmidfielders’ Coates Talent League season, her late season Vic Metro return reminded many

of her raw talent and potential. Weston-Turner unfortunately suffered a broken wrist after just two games of the Talent League season which saw her miss the next 12 weeks of footy. “It feels unreal, I don’t even know what to say. It’s surreal,” she said on the draft’s broadcast. “I’m just so thankful and fortunate to be in the position I’m in. I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be in this position knowing that I had a broken wrist and missed so much footy. “I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be in this position, no way. I think it’s just a credit to

myself and my resilience really, I am proud of myself. “I wouldn’t have thought [I would go] pick one but I’m just so glad it’s the Doggies, the team I have barracked for my whole life and I know that there’s someone looking down on me tonight, my grandfather, he’d be so happy.” She said this feat would have not been possible without the support from her family, her “army.” “I’ve got some of my family here and it really does go to show how many people I’ve got behind me,” she said. “I’ve got a whole army of

people supporting me and my phone’s about to blow up with all the messages and stuff, but just a massive thank you to everyone really. “They’ve been there for me my whole life and they’ve put so much effort in for me, both my mum and my dad and my step dad. “It just means the world to me, it really does, they put so much effort in for me and I wouldn’t be the person I am or the footballer I am without them.” Weston-Turner was one of three Western Jets selected, with Kiera Whiley and Tamara Henry also hitting the big-time.

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