Nicole Hayes - A Footy Girls Guide to the Stars of 2017

To all the footy girls who came before

Published by Piccolo Nero,

an imprint of Schwartz Publishing Pty Ltd

Level 1, 221 Drummond Street

Carlton VIC 3053, Australia

www.nerobooks.com

Copyright Nicole Hayes and Alicia Sometimes 2017

Nicole Hayes and Alicia Sometimes assert their right to be known as the authors of this work.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior consent of the publishers.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Hayes, Nicole, author; Sometimes, Alicia, author.

Footy girls guide to the stars of 2017 / Nicole Hayes,

Alicia Sometimes.

9781863959124 (paperback)

9781925435535 (ebook)

For children.

Victorian Womens Football LeagueAnecdotes.

Australian Football LeagueAnecdotes.

Women football playersAustraliaBiography.

Football teamsAustraliaBiography.

Cover design by Peter Long

Illustrations (cover & internal) by Phillip Marsden

Text design and typesetting by Tristan Main

INTRODUCTION

Weve always loved watching footy the excitement of the speccy, the tension of the last-minute goal, the rush of a well-timed tackle. This was how we spent our weekends when we were kids. We both wanted to play footy too but, back then, there werent many girls teams around, and our local boys teams wouldnt make room for us.

Yet girls and women have been playing footy for generations. The first-recorded match between female players dates back to 1917. The first womens league was the Victorian Womens Football League (VWFL) established in 1981, with other states following soon after. Despite there being a growing number of girls playing, many had to stop at age fourteen because it was considered dangerous for them to continue to play in mixed teams, and there were few teams solely for teenage girls. There were no professional women footballers.

Thats all changing.

The first professional womens football competition has been launched by the AFL the 2017 NAB AFL Womens Competition. Eight teams have been created, bringing together the most talented female footballers and other athletes from all over Australia. The rules will be a little different, but the game is the same fast-moving, hard-tackling, highly skilled and acrobatic.

A Footy Girls Guide to the Stars of 2017 features one player from each of the eight clubs, highlighting what makes them superstars of the womens game. Each has carved her own path to the top, proving that there is no single way and that footy is a game for anyone who wants to give it a go. In fact, footy is for EVERYONE. As it should be!

Keep kicking goals!

Alicia and Nicole

A FOOTY GIRLS RULES

The players use a slightly smaller ball: size 4.

There are 16 players to a side with 6 on the bench.

Each game is divided into 4 15-minute quarters, plus time-on.

Each team plays a home-and-away match every week for seven weeks with a grand final during Week 8.

NAME: DAISY PEARCE

POSITION: HALF-BACK FLANK

DATE OF BIRTH: 27 MAY 1988

PLACE OF BIRTH: BRIGHT, VICTORIA

NICKNAME: DAISE

ABOUT DAISY

My first footy memory is running around the backyard playing footy with my brother using orange skins for our mouthguards! Either mouthguards have got a lot cheaper or we were really poor. Or I didnt think to ask for one. But the professionals wore them, so we wanted to as well.

Auskick was my first organised game but then I started playing junior football. My dad was the coach of the under-13s at the Bright Junior Footy Club. I used to go to training sessions when I was eight or nine years old, just kicking around the footy, and then I began joining in. Eventually I started playing in matches. I think I was about eleven when I played my first official game. That was for a boys team, and I was the only girl.

I remember my first goal it was hilarious! The footy was definitely going to go through the goals anyway, but I was standing on the goal line and marked it and proudly turned around and kicked the goal. I stole it from whoever kicked the ball. And I was an extra on the field too! In country football, under-13s is the youngest age group, but as younger kids we would all sit on the bench thinking we were going to play. Then with ten minutes to go in the final quarter, the two coaches would give each other the nod and all the other siblings would be allowed to run onto the field for the last five minutes. So thered be, like, twelve extra players out there. I was one of the extras I didnt even have an opponent!

I was always so competitive with my brother, who was two years older, and that day he didnt kick a goal. It was THE best trip home from Myrtleford ever.

I love footy because its so free. No one tells you where you have to stand. Youve got thirty-six players all thinking and dictating where they run for themselves. I love how its open to all types anyone can play footy. You cant have a whole team full of six-and-a-half-foot ruckmen, and you wouldnt get very far if you had all small players. I love what that brings how we all have to work together as a team because everyone brings different skills to the field, and everyone is so important in their own right.

Of course, the worst thing about footy is losing!

Usually we train three times a week and each session is about three hours. Not all of that is physical training. Some of it is watching videos, or educational stuff. On top of that I train most days on my own its not always high-intensity. Sometimes its rehab or pilates, or that kind of thing. I do some sort of training probably six days a week.

I dont have many superstitions except that I choose a pair of undies at the start of the season, and they become my footy undies for the year. Im more superstitious when Im watching footy. If I start off sitting in a certain spot and were losing, I have to move and then if we kick a few goals, then Ill stay in that same spot.

Before a game Im pretty relaxed. I dont like to get too focused on a routine. I feel like that would make me more nervous. Music is usually on in the change room but I dont care too much what kind of music.

My favourite position is half-back flank. I like being able to read the play and set up my position to intercept. You get to see the game unfolding. Youve got a big job defensively but you also get the opportunity to be the first link in the attacking plays as well. It works well for me because Ive got good vision and decision-making skills. Im not a big kick but Im pretty accurate.

I am in awe of Katie Brennan both playing with her and against her. One of my favourite players to watch is Sam Mitchell (who played for Hawthorn and is now with the West Coast Eagles). I feel Im pretty similar to him I dont have as many athletic gifts as some players so I have to work extra hard, always looking for areas of improvement to give me an edge. I grew up loving Cathy Freeman she was a wonderful athlete and role model.

One of my big hopes when I finish playing is that my contribution lasts longer than just my career that I leave the game in a better place.

I currently work at Melbourne Football Club. I started off as an intern there, getting work experience in lots of areas, which was very different from my previous work as a midwife! My new role is as a welfare assistant working with the mens team in welfare development, making sure the players are involved in activities away from footy. Obviously the coaches look after the football side of things so the welfare team is more involved in helping them off the field to be happy and kind people.