In every sense,there’s a changing of the guard taking place.
I didn’t inherit a great amount of speed,but as I am getting older and slower,I have to rely on my strength and knowledge in the contest to impact games.
Names such as Pearce,Vescio,Garner,Phillips and Bowers are widely known of course,but we are now hearing more about the likes of McKenzie,Patrikios,Parker and Fitzgerald. These players are the future of the competition and are already having a massive impact. What is so striking about them is their overall skill set. They tackle well,they’re clean in the air and at ground level,and they have freakish football instincts and a high-level IQ.
We cannot underestimate the effect that a visible pathway to elite football for young girls has had on fast-tracking the development of the league. To give more perspective,the new draftees were 13 when the AFLW started. When I was 13 I fell out of love with the game because I was no longer allowed to play.
It is the same story for the majority of the league’s players:told they can’t play after the age of 12 because of their gender. They then transitioned back to footy later in their life. I’d had to think how many super-talented athletes were lost to the game over the decades because of this.
Having women’s football on TV,in the papers and in the media spotlight – even marginally compared to the men’s – cannot be underestimated. More young girls are being exposed to our sport than ever before and they now know they have a genuine opportunity to become professionals. The flow-on effect is a bigger draft pool and more highly skilled players,which will continue to improve the standard of the league each year.
This year alone we have seen higher scoring,better skills and a faster,slicker product.