Plenty to crow about
When samotor arrives for our interview at the Crows’ West Lakes headquarters, it’s the day before the women’s team has their Christmas dinner, and Sarah Perkins is awaiting the arrival of the present she’s ordered for her Kris Kringle.
It’s a calendar filled with old photos of her teammates – some daggier than others. “I rushed it a bit, but the joke’ll still be worth it. There’s some real pearlers in there,” she laughs. It’s refreshing to see how candid the women are, and to hear how the sense of fun and friendship –which was so apparent on-field during the inaugural AFLW season – carries over into their off-field lives. “We all have our quirks and we’re all different, but as soon as we walked through those doors, we were family, and that’s something Bec [Goddard, Crows coach] encouraged from the start,” says Perkins.
Meanwhile, teammate Ebony Marinoff has just finished doing a gym session alongside some of the male Crows. She says adjusting to elite training has been a challenge, but her love of the game has gotten her through. She’s been impressed by how many of the male team members have rallied around to support the women – especially fan favourite Eddie Betts. “Oh, I love Eddie. He’ll just sit down and have a normal conversation with you for half an hour – about footy, about life. Seriously, he’s so generous and just one of the greatest humans,” says Marinoff.Of course, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the women in their first year of AFL. The step up to elite training was extremely sudden – they hadn’t been preparing for it since they were kids like many of our professional male players – and they had to try and squeeze training and games in around full-time jobs. And then of course, there were the naysayers, which Perkins says they choose to ignore. “If you see the keyboard warriors making comments about how we play, they’re obviously watching. So, you just push on. “The way I’m seeing it is we’ve only had eight games. But we’ve got another eight rounds in 2018 and then after that, as it keeps going and keeps growing, we’ve just got more opportunities to improve and to prove why we deserve to be here. You keep on working hard – and you keep having fun,” she says. This positive outlook and determination to improve will surely be serving the team well this year, after a shaky start to the 2018 season.
The pure joy on the women’s faces as they ran out to start a game, or as they watched a teammate kick a thumping goal, was one of the best things about watching the first AFLW season. “Just seeing some of my mates grow and play the kind of footy I know they can play is amazing in itself… just seeing them strive and improve is something I really enjoy,” says Perkins.