Gabby O'Sullivan takes us into the mind of an AFLW player in the lead up to one of the biggest moments of her life.
You know when someone is on crutches or sporting a fluro arm cast, the go to question is “what did you do?”
That’s what I’ve been dealing with in the lead up to the NAB AFL Women’s season…not the cast or the crutches (thankfully!) but the same reoccurring question of “Are you excited? Nervous? How do you feel?”
Right now I’m going go with D, “none of the above.”
If I’m 100% honest, and I think if I asked all 28 of the other girls…we would all agree on this feeling of readiness. We are prepared and ready to bring it to the Doggies this Saturday night!
Yes the past three or four months has been a tough, and at times LONG preseason to get our bodies fine tuned to be able to play the brand of footy coach Michelle Cowan wants us to play..but for most of the girls on the Freo Dockers list, it has been a long time coming!
I know as a kid it was my dream to play AFL footy, obviously not realising I was of the wrong gender for the game.
Gabby O'Sullivan's player profile
Reality kicked in at around 12 years old when I was told I had played my last game for Bullcreek Leeming Football Club, so off I went to search for my new love, which happened to be basketball!
After heading across the pond on a basketball scholarship to a small college in Georgia at the age of 19, returning at the ripe age of 22, footy came creeping back into my life..and aren’t I so glad for it!
When I heard Fremantle had won the bid for a team in the inaugural women’s football league, I think that voice from my childhood resurrected itself and my dream of playing AFL footy was reignited.
Keeping in mind that I hadn’t touched a footy in over 6 years, I had to keep it real with myself and not have my hopes too high.
Nevertheless, I headed down to my old man’s stomping ground at East Fremantle footy club to try and rediscover whatever footy talent that had been hiding for a very long time.
Well it turned out I hadn’t hidden this “talent” too far away, and I was able to secure myself a spot in the league team after one training session! This may or may not be a coincidence that half the team were away on a state trip - but hey, that’s not the point!
I remember kicking a goal in my first game which gave us the lead over a very good opponent. That feeling mixed with belting out the team song at the end of the game to celebrate a great team win was enough…footy had my heart once again!
At our jumper presentations, Shaun McManus spoke to us about this feeling. It’s something that I am most looking forward to on my footy journey - the feeling of wearing the Freo jumper and standing next to those girls and battling it out on the field for a club you’ve been working so hard for over the past 4 months. It would by far surpass any other feeling in this world!
I have so much faith a confidence in the 26 girls and coaching staff that I stand next to that we are about to do something special!
If we can inspire young girls to take an interest in footy, whether it be playing or spectating, then we have achieved our goal. Win, lose or draw, there is more to the game the end result; it’s about what you do along the way that creates the story.
I am so grateful and proud to be able to lace up my boots on Saturday night and put on that jumper to represent the Fremantle footy club!
Let us show you what the Fremantle Dockers women’s footy team is all about! #foreverfreo #seewhatwecreate
HOW TO WATCH FREMANTLE'S UPCOMING AFLW GAMES
Round 1. Western Bulldogs v Fremantle, 4:40pm (WST) Saturday 4 February at VU Whitten Oval
Broadcast live nationally on Fox Footy and on 7mate in Perth
Round 2. Fremantle v Brisbane, 4:05pm (WST) Sunday 12 February (WST) at Fremantle Oval
With free entry, there's every reason to get down to Fremantle Oval to support Freo in their first game at home!
AFLW fixture and broadcast information
