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EXCLUSIVE

'I'm going to be an AFL player': Daisy Pearce excited ahead of AFL Women's opener

Daisy Pearce

Daisy Pearce is the captain of Melbourne's AFL Women's team and will write columns for Fairfax Media throughout 2017.

It feels so real now that it must be – I'm going to be an AFL player. 

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Explainer: Women's AFL

The inaugural women's AFL competition kicks off in February. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the first bounce.

Like all debutantes, I feel as if it is a dream come true and I know that the next few days will be a giddy blur of nerves and excitement, reflection and anticipation. 

For me, it is a dream that began with a red-raw foot in the backyard of my childhood home in Wandiligong, near Bright in north-eastern Victoria. The red-raw foot was the result of kicking a football that was too big for me – with shoes on. 

I liked playing all sports, but I was captivated by football from a young age. I loved the unpredictability of footy. Which way will the ball bounce? Where will that player kick it? Strangely, even the unpredictability of what decision the umpire would make. 

Not much is certain in football and I've always found that exciting. 

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As a kid, and still now, the freedom of football also sets it apart from a lot of other sports. There are very few limits or restrictions on where or when or how far you can run. Aside from the interchange and team structures, you never have to wait your turn, everyone on the field is "in the game" and has the ability to make an impact at all times. 

My propensity to turn to a sport where it was always my turn and where I wasn't told where I had to stand provides a clue as to what type of kid I was – determined and stubborn, I danced to my own beat. These characteristics proved vital for my journey into the game at a time when girls weren't encouraged to play and the most prominent women in football clubs were generally found in the canteen. 

Kick-to-kick with my brothers in Jolimont Park when Mum or Dad drove us down to watch a game at the MCG often drew unwanted attention. People would literally stop and point, stunned by the novelty of a girl kicking a drop punt. I was once asked by a confused passer-by whether I was a girl or boy. Confused simply because I could kick a footy. 

The world around me made me think I must be the only girl in the country who played football. Thankfully, I was determined enough to ignore this delusion and I had parents who weren't ruled by what was "normal". 

Mum and dad signed me up for Auskick, I played in the school team and in the under-13s and under-15s at Bright Football Club – always the only girl. I was far from a child prodigy, but I was ultra-competitive and having developed earlier than a lot of the boys, I had a bit of size on my side.

I was once asked by a confused passer-by whether I was a girl or boy. Confused simply because I could kick a footy.

The whole club and my teammates were always very supportive, but I was on the receiving end of more than my fair share of tedious sledges from opponents about "the girl". 

As a small child, I had dreamt of playing professionally like my idols on TV, but then a more realistic 12-year-old me worked out that all my heroes were men and I accepted playing simply because I loved it. I had resigned myself to the fact that inevitably, as per the league's policy on girls, I would have to stop playing beyond under-15s and that I'd better enjoy it while I could. 

I was unaware of the existence of the Victorian Women's Football League, so when I moved to Melbourne to live with my mum after my parents separated, I started playing volleyball at school. My competitiveness and application held up in the change of sports and I ended up playing for Victoria at two junior national volleyball championships.

After a two-year hiatus, it was a good day when I found out the school would be entering a girls' football team in an interschool sports program for the first time. It was an even better day when at school footy the umpire told me I should come down and train with the Darebin Falcons, a women's team in the VWFL. 

I turned up at training two days later, I was named on the wing for that weekend's match and haven't played a competitive game of volleyball since. 

That was 12 years ago now, but I can remember standing in the carpark of the ground we trained on in Reservoir (where team selection took place before we had club rooms) and being picked for my first game with Darebin as vividly as I can being drafted to Melbourne last year. Less impressive maybe to most but equally significant – I could play footy again.

The role and perception of women in football has evolved enormously since then and while I'm sure there are still many invaluable women keeping clubs afloat by running the canteen, thousands of others have stepped out on to the field as players, coaches and administrators. 

We are on the cusp of the inaugural AFL Women's season and my selection for this weekend's game has been somewhat of a more demanding process than my first game for the Falcons was back in 2005. 

More than 1200 players nominated for the draft. I was one of 216 players selected across the eight teams and I have just completed the most gruelling pre-season training program I have ever done. While the training has never been harder I have enjoyed the challenge because I now have access to the coaches, resources, facilities and support I need to help me improve every time I hit the track.

With Sunday being the first game of Melbourne's first season, there is no form or history to measure our team against. The long list of unknowns is a little nerve-wracking but I take solace in knowing that every player, coach and staff member has invested in what we want to achieve and that there is a great energy in the group.

This Melbourne team is unashamedly playing to win, but one thing that we will hold close on Sunday is that the next generation of young footballers will be tuning in to discover their new role models – role models that some of us never had. With that in mind, the fact that I am going to be an AFL player is less important than the simple fact that now, I can be an AFL player. 

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