Development League (Reserves), Leading Goalkicker (12) - 2023
Best Finals Player Award - 2024
At the age of just 6 or 7, Kiana Lee was hanging out at the Rosewater Football Club while her brother played junior football and her dad cooked the BBQ. Soon, she was playing football herself and by u/12s, she was the team’s leading goalkicker playing in the boy’s team. At the age of 15 she had to miss football due to age restrictions (14) on girls playing with boys, but the next year (2016) she was able to join an u/16s team for girls at Henley Football Club.
In 2018, Lee moved to play u/18s for SMOSH West Lakes and was chosen in the state u/18 team and played two games in the NAB AFLW Championships. She also represented the Adelaide Footy League u/18 state team against the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
In 2019, she was again selected for the state u/18 team and her career began to take off. As part of the state u/18 team again, she played two good games and kicked eight goals and was selected to represent the combined SA/NT team (“The Central Allies”) in three games at the NAB AFLW Championships on the Gold Coast. Lee also made her debut with Woodville-West Torrens in Round 1 of the SANFLW, and won a nomination for the SANFLW Powerade Breakthrough player in round 7. Lee also continued playing Division One Amateur Football at SMOSH West Lakes, losing the Grand Final to Adelaide University by two points. At the end of the year, Lee joined the Adelaide Crows as a train on player with Erin Phillips and Chelsea Randall as her mentors.
In 2022, Lee switched from Woodville West-Torrens to Norwood mid-season. Lee hoped for a fresh start with Norwood but saw the year out in the Development League. However, she played a full season at SMOSH again and was a part of their Premiership team that season – her first premiership in football.
Prior to the start of the 2023 season, Lee had to have foot surgery which caused her to miss pre season and it wasn’t until late in the minor rounds that she was able to string together some league games, including two finals. Two days after Norwood lost the preliminary final, Lee had surgery on her other foot which meant her recovery would be complete in time for the 2024 pre-season training.
The 2024 season for Lee was a breakthrough year for her at SANFLW level. Lee was moved from the forward line to a wing where she played all 17 games for Norwood; finished third in the Best and Fairest; was awarded “Best Finals Player” and also won the award for leading goalkicker with 19 goals for the season. Lee was also selected in the State League Squad of 25 to play WA, but narrowly missed out on team selection. She represented the SA u/23 side in a game against the SA u/18 side. Some of her games were stunning. Lee was the round 4 winner of the “Macca’s Moment” for her game breaking three goals in the last 5 minutes of the third quarter against North Adelaide. She was nominated for the Powerade Breakthrough Player Award in round 9 and played her 50th SANFLW game in the Preliminary final against Glenelg. In that milestone game, Lee went ‘berserk’ and kicked three incredible goals in the second quarter – two set shots from hard up on the boundary line on opposite sides of the ground and the third when she ran around the player on the mark and kicked truly. What was all the more remarkable for season 2024, was that Lee played most of it with a broken toe.
Kiana Lee is a strong overhead and contested mark with a free-flowing kicking action that sends the ball long and straight. Although not blessed with pace, she reads the play well and is a good decision maker with the ball in hand. Lee can be perceived as serious but she is unquestionably focused on playing consistent football and is always continuing to improve.
Chris Brown, October 2024