Growing up in the Australian country town of Albury,
Zali Goldsworthy always had a love for any sport she could get her hands on.
In fact, it was soccer that she had fallen in love with from a young age.
But after moving to the city when she was just 15,
she associated burnout with soccer and lost her passion for the game.
But it was moving back to Albury that helped her re-find her love for Aussie rules.
She was the GWS Giants' first draft pick in 2022
and capped off her 2023 season as the Giants' youngest ever club champion.
That same year, at just 18 years old, she picked up the league's Rising Star Award.
My name's Sophie and I'm the producer here at the Female Athlete Project.
Zali is now rounding out her third year of AFLW
and is making her presence known across the park.
This chat proves that if you have that passion
and you're a fan of the sport,
then you don't need a backup plan.
We hope you enjoy it.
Zali Goldsworthy, welcome to the Female Athlete Project.
Thanks for having me, darling. It's great to be here.
I actually just forgot which podcast I was introducing you to.
Because we also host the Giants podcast together.
Close rival of the T-Fat podcast, the Giants podcast.
Yeah, I'm sure it's a close second.
Very close second with our mate Alicia Eva.
So we're going to do that today as well.
Two podcasts in a day.
Yeah, I don't know how we're going to go.
I bet you have some good content.
You set a high bar with your expectations of the content.
Before this podcast, I was looking you up on Wikipedia
just to check there wasn't anything about you that you haven't told me.
Any hidden secrets?
How do you feel about your Wikipedia page?
I don't really know.
It's a bit interesting that, yeah,
someone's gone out of their way to put that all together.
I don't know how they've found it all, but yeah.
It's a bit of a weird one.
Because we've got a fair bit.
It's got a lot about your junior teams, who you played for, different sports.
I didn't know about the cricket.
We're going to talk about the soccer, the football,
but I didn't know a lot about the cricket.
Dabbled in a bit of cricket.
Really, I just dabbled in a bit of everything.
Being a country kid, I feel like most weekends were four or more sports.
That's a solid effort.
Netball, cricket, soccer, footy.
It was everything.
What were you like?
Can you describe Zali as a little kid?
Zali's little kid had a big ego and was a little troublemaker, I think.
Had trouble with authority.
Didn't like being told what to do, as per.
And yeah, I don't know, just pretty energetic, crazy.
Loved hanging out with the boys.
So, as you can imagine, got up to some rowdy business.
And what was sport like?
For you at home, like being a country kid, what was your access to sport like?
Oh, it was pretty good.
Like, any sport you could think of, you could play in Albury.
I guess to go to the elite levels, you probably had to start moving to the cities,
which was pretty hard because there wasn't probably a great pathway for the country kids.
But yeah, I did that a couple of years ago, moved to Sydney.
And yeah, and then moved back home.
We were chatting about this the other day.
What year were you in when you moved to Sydney?
I was in year nine.
And you got pretty homesick when you moved here?
Yeah, I was extremely homesick.
It was a huge culture shock coming from, like, Albury and then moving to the big city.
School, like, I was in a private school all my life.
Kinder to year eight it would have been.
Had, like, best friends for eight years.
And then, yeah, just moved to Westfields, which I think had, like, 2,000 kids in year seven and 12.
And yeah, like, I've gone from living 10 minutes down the road to living an hour away
and catching buses and trains and waking up at six in the morning every day
and not getting home till the sun was down.
So, yeah, it was pretty crazy.
That's a lot for a young teenager to be doing that.
Yeah, it was just, it was a huge culture shock.
Like, going from, yeah, just having training 10 minutes down the road,
having family 10 minutes down the road, like, family barbecues, family dinners,
And I was having them, like, all the time.
So, just, yeah, seeing family maybe, like, once every five weeks, if that.
And, yeah, and, like, just living with my sister, being in a rowdy house,
a lot of white noise in the background, which I think that, yeah,
you don't appreciate how much it's, how much you love it until it's gone.
Like, just hearing the dogs bark, hearing dad cooking dinner.
Dad's TV, like, fighting with the TV.
But, yeah, just little stuff like that, I think, is what you miss once you move out.
Gets a bit, gets a bit quiet.
Sometimes you don't like the quiet.
You, you've got a pretty great family.
You've got some good characters in your family.
Can you touch on your relationship with your parents?
Yeah, I'm extremely close to them.
My mum, I call her Jodie because she's honestly, like, my best friend.
Like, it's not really a mother-daughter relationship.
She's just another friend.
And anyone who meets her knows why that is.
Like, she is in all of my friend groups.
Everyone always asks me to bring Jodie, bring Jodie along.
What, she comes to social gatherings?
And she loves it.
Oh, I'm so here for that.
And whereas my dad's kind of, like, the complete opposite.
Like, he doesn't like to, he's kind of, like, was that parent at the, I don't know,
kids games, but he would sit on the other side and he didn't want to talk about his kid.
Oh, away from the crowd.
So, like, you'd just see all the crowd in one bunch in the stadium and then there'd be some
man on the other side of the field just by himself.
But, yeah, extremely close to them, yeah.
And how have they impacted your sporting journey?
I think that looking back on it now, as a youngster growing up, you don't appreciate what they
were doing at the time and they gave me the opportunity to move to Sydney and sacrificed
Like, I know my mum, she missed having me in the house and she still does.
She, whenever I go home, it's honestly, like, she says that.
Like, the bomb's gone off.
Like, but she loves it.
I bring my boombox, my speaker in town and we do karaoke together, we dance together.
And, yeah, and I guess, like, just their influence on me has been pretty big.
Let's look at your junior sport years.
Young Matildas, you, I want to clarify because this is, you get not, you're not happy about
It's often a reference made that you're part of the Young Matildas, but you went to a camp.
I went to one camp.
Yeah, I went to one camp and a couple, like, trial games, that was about it.
But she likes, you'd like to set the record straight that you weren't part of, officially
part of the Young Matildas.
I never played a game for Australia.
Like, I don't know where this has come from, but everyone just keeps saying, yeah, next
I think people, it's like the media, like, jumping onto those things.
But, so you didn't, you didn't play a game, but you've got to be pretty good to go to
a camp regardless.
Where'd the, where'd the soccer, soccer football go?
Where'd the football love start?
Soccer started, like, that was just my first sport.
I would have been about four and just never looked back since then.
Like I did gala days, played for my local club, absolutely loved it.
Did all the state teams, anything I could, I was doing soccer.
And then how did you get to the point of, did you have to choose between footy and soccer?
So when I was in Sydney, I think that just having that.
As I said, culture shock, we were trained, like I was training four times a week in Albury
to something ridiculous, like 12 times a week in Sydney.
And yeah, it's just a kid.
It's not probably something you're thinking about then and it's probably not a priority.
But then, yeah, I dunno, like I just, I got burnt out and I went through a period of,
I just hated the sport.
Like I just hated soccer and it was completely like, it's not you, it's me.
I didn't know anything was happening that like made me hate it.
It was just purely, it was me.
Like I just, I got so sick of it that yeah.
When I was the option to come home to Albury and start doing footy, it was a no brainer
And then what was it quite refreshing coming home and playing footy?
Oh, it was so refreshing.
Like I still did soccer, but I just did it socially, like with my friends and like for
the local club I'd played up for, um, growed up with, uh, playing with.
And yeah, I dunno.
It was just, it was so nice to be able to.
To have a pathway in a sport that I could also do from home and, uh, and I was completing
year 11 and 12 at that stage and I was still, I was really thought that school was the be
So I'm going back.
I was like, I'm really going to focus on school and I'm going to like, it's going to be really
I was like, I missed that part of your story actually.
As soon as, uh, as soon as footy came into the picture.
Like I could actually get drafted.
It was like, that was it.
I never looked back and never really gave school a chance.
I was like, who is that?
I know the last like eight months of school.
I reckon I wasn't even there.
Like I was in Sydney or I was in Melbourne and I was doing, um, state games or training
So I probably didn't give it a great run.
And in the end, like I, I was kind of one of those kids that again, doesn't like being
So doing HSC, I was like, okay, I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
So I was like, I don't need a test to tell me how well I went in school.
And then I was like, ah, I didn't even open my HR results.
Like to that extent I was like, mm.
So you still don't know?
Still don't know.
You got no idea how you went?
How do you even have the self control to not look?
It never worried me and also at the time I was getting my tonsils out
so I was in the hospital and couldn't actually open it
because there was no service.
But it wasn't a priority and it still hasn't been.
I've never looked back.
Lucky you're good at footy.
Who knows how I would have gone going to uni or anything.
Okay, so did you always know it was going to be the Giants
when you're like, okay, I'm going to get drafted?
Was it always going to be the Giants?
I remember it was always going to be a Victorian team.
And if I came to Sydney, it was going to the Swans.
Wow, it was never the Giants.
It was never the Giants.
I did academy with them and it would have been one of the first years
they did academy and it just wasn't it.
Kind of in, yeah, I don't really know how to explain it
but it just wasn't really a great academy at that stage
because it was only new.
And I just didn't enjoy it.
I think their trainings were in Wagai and there was about four girls
rocking up so it was kind of useless.
And so I just, I don't know why, I just thought, no, well,
I did the Giants thing and I didn't like it.
And then I was chatting to all the Melbourne clubs.
I was 90% sure I was going to Melbourne.
It also taught me that whatever you say in the media off the record
is always on the record.
Did that happen to you?
Yeah, so an article came out saying that she's going to Victoria.
And I was like, oh, I said that off the record
and I was a bit nervous because I was like,
I still haven't spoken to the Swans yet.
Like, what are they going to think?
Yeah, so I was, yeah, I was in a bit of disarray.
And then, yeah, I was chatting to all the Melbourne clubs.
I think my first interview was with Hawthorne.
I was so excited.
I was over the moon.
They were coming into the competition when I, in my draft year,
so I thought like this is fate.
And then I just, I didn't connect with any of them.
It was a bit more of a transactional relationship.
And I guess it just showed me that sport is a business.
And it showed me that side of it.
And I was kind of like, oh, well, like coming from the country
where relationships are so important.
I guess I was only really taking the Giants interview
as a courtesy to tick a box.
Maybe in the future.
And then when I was just in the interview,
they kind of just told me everything.
I wanted to hear like, we're going to play you here.
You'd be a real asset to the team.
They kind of promised me a couple of things and they've delivered.
And just as a 17 year old to be wanted was so nice at that stage
because I was, yeah, as I said, doing interviews with Melbourne clubs,
they were kind of like, why should we pick you?
We're interviewing 80 other girls.
What makes you so special type thing?
So it was a bit like.
They were playing hard to get.
And I was kind of like, I thought that was the norm.
And then as soon as I met the Giants and they were kind of like,
let me know we want you.
I was like, oh, okay.
That's nice to hear.
Isn't it interesting when they, when someone sees your value
and recognizes it rather than like playing a game with you?
Because you would know, you're like, I know that I'm a good footballer
and I know I'm going to be an asset.
And it's just like, as I said, as a 17 year old to be wanted
instead of like, like I had a club.
Come to our house all of 10 minutes and say,
we're not going to have the picks to get you.
So I'm just kind of here to tick a box.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
We also think you're not good at X, Y, Z.
So it was kind of, and I just thought that that was the norm.
And yeah, as soon as I met the Giants, I was like, no, like they, yeah,
they, they want me and they, they show a lot of value in me.
I've never looked back since.
It's been, you've been a very, very good addition.
Before we get to your time at the Giants,
can you touch on why Hawthorne would have felt like fate before you had that
I was just a huge Hawks fan growing up.
Like Hawks were, was the be all and end all for me as a young star.
Watching them win their three grand finals was like some of the best years of
just being a little kid and waking up on grand final day was better than
Like it was so cool.
And I was like the ultimate fan and the ultimate like sore loser.
Like if Hawthorne lost, I was in tears.
Like it could just be a home and away game.
And I was in tears.
Family knew like not to come near me.
Like obviously they'd try and stir me up, but yeah, it was,
they were just a huge part of my life.
And I like, I wouldn't be playing footy if it wasn't for their success.
I used to like just be such a nerd and know like you could say,
Hey, 2012 round eight.
And I'd know who we played, what the score was.
Do you still know that?
Or back in the day you did?
I'd only know like certain games.
So don't test me.
You're like, don't do it.
It's something that I don't like to say.
Cause I know people are like, well.
It's like when you say you're a singer and everyone's like, sing for me.
It's gotta be Celine.
So you end up at the Giants.
can you tell us about a practice match where you hurt your shoulder in your
This is a bit of a nightmare that just keeps on coming.
So I was playing out at Witten Noble and we're playing the doggies.
I think I just kicked a goal and I was going in for a smother and one of
our players kind of like hip bumped me in the shoulder.
And at first it kind of like hurt a bit.
And then it just slowly started to hurt more and more.
And I couldn't move my arm.
And I remember, um, I was like starting to get a bit teary cause I was thinking like,
oh, I've never really had an injury like this before.
I thought it was pretty serious.
As did everyone else.
And then I was in like getting an ultrasound and I had Nick bar next to me and I was trying
to be like tough and holding the tears and you know, um, they offered me some pain meds
and I was like, no, no, no, I'm, I'm okay.
They walked out of the room and Bazzi was like, whenever they offer you pain meds, can
you take the pain meds?
She is experienced in that area, Nicola bar.
So I took the pain meds and was off my rocker.
Off your absolute rocker.
Getting wheeled through Melbourne airport in a wheelchair.
Like I was on the phone to my family cause they weren't at the game and I was telling
them I was flying to New York.
I was kept saying to all like the coaching staff, how much I wanted KFC.
And then we, um, while we were there in the airport, the Port Adelaide boys were walking
off and Ollie Wines was there and you know, I was kind of trying to wave him down and
get a photo and all the physios were like, no, please stop.
But he stopped for a photo, didn't he?
He stopped for a photo.
I've got a photo of Ollie Wines, pretty iconic of me drugged out on a wheelchair.
And then we got to Sydney and I just remember it kind of started.
It started to like wear off and I like had a sleep or something and I woke up and one
of the coaches were at the front of KFC and he's got like, I got you KFC, like here's
the, here's your burger or something.
And I just remember I felt so sick.
I was like, get it out.
You didn't even eat your KFC?
I didn't even eat my KFC.
You didn't eat your KFC around?
Like, especially for my coach.
And then, and then, yeah.
And then I had to stay in Sydney for a couple of days with, um, some of the girls and I
felt so bad because I knew that they all had to go.
I had to go to work and like, um, Cambo, she took a couple of days or I think she already
had the days off work and I like, she had to basically look after me and I felt so bad.
And then anyway, all scans came back clear.
Just some bone rusing or it was basically a corky on the cuff.
So it was just a bad spot to get a corky because it's like any type of movement.
So it wasn't, it wasn't a great first impression.
Uh, at the Giants.
It's quite a funny thing.
I reckon when you go for a scan, because there's such a big part of you that's like, please
Like, please be okay.
But then the other part of you where you're like, well, I hope there's something so I
don't look like an absolute idiot.
I just, I genuinely thought that was something like I, that was the worst pain I'd felt.
And I couldn't move half my body.
Like, I remember like the girls had to kind of get me into the shower and I couldn't move.
Like I was in so much pain and then I'm just being a cool.
I think, I think since then you've proved yourself though, to be pretty tough.
Well, I'd hope so.
I mean, I, I know that the girls like show videos of me at training, like getting my
ankle basically like stomped on and like me, like limping for a couple minutes and be like
And I was like, are you serious?
My ankle has just been stomped on.
You're lucky I didn't go and get a scan or go over to the physios and need to be subbed
out for two weeks.
Like, are you serious?
And like, to be fair, I think like, I don't know.
Um, some of the other girls in the team who give me a bit of, um, can I say shit?
Just a bit of shit for it.
Uh, aren't probably the best in terms of injuries anyway.
Like little hint at, yeah, I see what you're getting at there.
I see what you're getting at.
I think you know.
So played your first season.
You debuted, I think round three in the Derby.
Missing two weeks anyway.
Oh, yeah, I know.
Um, yes, I missed those two weeks and then yeah.
First game was the Derby at the SCG.
Kicked two goals, four or something with the pulling out and the full, I think as well.
There was a pretty good goal celebration in that though.
It was just, it was almost like, again, like it was like fate that, um, I'd missed probably
two or three before then.
And I think they were at the other end.
So, uh, to kick that goal, my family was like probably 20 meters away.
Not even, so I just ran straight to them, pointed at them, thought I was on cloud nine.
I ran away from all my teammates.
Like everyone was like, we're trying to catch you, but you just ran away.
So we just went, oh, we're just going back to the square then.
So no one ended up getting around you.
They couldn't keep up with you.
I think like Barzy was there and maybe Alicia, but then, I mean, and also at that stage we
were 10 goals up.
It kind of took the, um, sting out of it a little bit, but, um, yeah, I, I didn't even
I was like, my family's over there.
I'm getting to them.
Your preseason before season two, I remember sending you a text.
This feels like a lifetime ago, but I remember sending you a text towards the back end of
And I said something to you like, I reckon you are going to absolutely kill it this year.
That was, that was so special because I feel like we, um, I, we'd never really spoken before
So I was like, oh my God, Chloe Dolan is sending me a text.
It's pretty cool.
Take that off the bucket list.
No, but the reason I said that was because you actually then ended up to go on to have
a ridiculous season.
You took out pretty much every award at the Giants end of season awards, Gab trainer,
um, rising star, fearless award.
And you also were named the AFLW rising star.
What on earth did you do in that season to be that good?
Honestly, I didn't even have the best preseason.
I thought you did.
I thought you were looking good.
I was injured for the first half.
But I actually think that that was like amazing because it meant like, let me go on the gym,
which I, I always say that me and going to the gym is like a married relationship.
Like we don't get along at the best of times.
Sometimes we're humming and sometimes I'm like, I want a divorce.
Like I just, I, I'm not, and you could probably tell, like, I'm not the strongest.
So, uh, I guess it just gave me six weeks to go in the gym.
And I like, I felt so different.
Like I was like, oh my God.
Like I, I am starting to finally see some results.
And, and then I just guess that I hit preseason six weeks into, um, whenever I was probably
about halfway through and starting to feel it.
And I felt refreshed.
I felt motivated, felt better than ever.
And yeah, I guess it kind of kickstarted, um, what was a good year.
And you've done it again, multiple times this season.
You're the kind of player that when it looks like we're in trouble, we need a huge momentum
You are so often the person to step up and do that.
Whether it's getting a clearance in the midfield or kicking a goal in the forward line.
What are you like?
Are you just in the zone?
Like, are you just flowing?
What actually happens in those moments?
I think it's just a bit of like, I get a lot of white line fever.
So like, um, yeah, in those moments I'm probably like, like I'm, uh, I feel like I just want
to help the team as best as I can.
And so when, and it's probably come at a time where the other teams kicked a couple of goals
and I'm in the forward line, like kind of watching from afar, like.
Getting a bit worked up, getting a bit itchy, like, so I guess me going in there is kind
of letting out a bit of frustration and, um, yeah.
And I, I guess I kind of like being the person that, um, can take a step forward.
And, um, I really like being the person that is kind of like helping, helping girls up
and like come with me kind of mentality.
So I guess when I do that, it's kind.
It's a bit of frustration, but it's also like, I want to, I want to take a step forward and
I want you girls to come with me kind of thing.
How have you learned to deal with like the pressure in the big moments?
Because that also seems like something that you really want to step into and like you
thrive in those moments.
I think that it's just about, you got to want it.
Like you got to want those moments and, uh, like you're not going to get them right all
the time, but yeah, you just got to want those moments.
And I guess even this year winning all those awards.
Like you could probably any young player, it could, um, change them a bit, but I guess
like just even with, yeah, like feedback criticism, I always just take it with a grain of salt
like, and just control what you can control.
Like if you can't control the uncontrollables, then yeah, don't worry about it.
But with those moments, yeah, you just got to, you got to want them.
And yeah, as I said, if you don't get them right, you still got to want them.
Like you got to want to have the ball in your hands to take, um, like the final kick for
a golf start or something like that.
And if you miss, you still got to want them.
But I want it because otherwise I feel like if you don't want it, the ball's going to
And if you've kind of scared of it or something, um, and if you don't step into it, then it
could end in a bit of a negative way.
I want to touch on that ego piece.
You talked about being a kid with ego.
I feel like you are a really good balance.
Like you have this confidence about you, but not in a way that I don't like you.
Like, yeah, yeah.
You know what I mean?
And I can't stand arrogance.
Like, I think that it's like anyone that is arrogant and good at sport, I just can't
Like, I, like I, I'm the same as you, you need a level of confidence and belief in your
own ability, but like on the field, I guess I'll play with a bit of confidence, bit of
swagger, but off the field, uh, yeah, I'm probably always the person that's like sarcastically
putting myself down or something like that.
Um, but yeah, I don't know.
Kind of a weird one.
Talk about the two way dialogue.
That you have with the, with the fans and the crowd.
We've discussed this a few times on the Giants podcast and, um, a lot of the time after you've
kicked a goal, there's a pretty good component of your highlight reel that involves interacting
with the opposition in the crowd.
Well, as I said, like I've just been a big footy fan since like day one.
And one of my favorite things to do is go to the footy and yell out to the people on
And I've just always been, I love when in the men's or in the women's.
When a player kicks the goal and the crowd was giving them a bit that they turn around
and they just give them a bit of salute or something like that.
So I've, I'm a, I'm a big believer if, um, yeah, if you're going to talk the talk, you
better be ready to walk the walk.
So yeah, if, um, if they're giving me a bit and I kick a goal, I'm in every right to turn
around and give it straight back.
So it's a, it's a two way conversation we're basically having.
And I think it brings like a real, uh, flavor is a bad word, but I feel like it brings a
good amount of that to the game.
Cause I think like, that's a whole part of like growing the sport and the whole thing
about AFLW is like the more characters there are and the more stories there are of people
like you, like you could have been this kid who was like going to be the Giants first
round draft pick who was going to be amazing.
And you could have come and been a cookie cutter with a boring personality.
We probably wouldn't have been friends, but I feel like what you do, like when you give
it back to the crowd, it's true.
It's cheeky, but it's such a good way.
Like it builds your personality and the Giants personality at the same time too.
I think like it's cheeky to an extent, like obviously you're not going to go over the
top with it and you're not going to let it like change the way you play.
Um, but yeah, like in those moments, I always say to the, that like the 30 seconds after
you kick a goal, like that's kind of your moment to just take a breath.
Like, and it's kind of like, you can do whatever you want because, uh, no one can take the goal
And I guess it's kind of like all the hard work you're putting in.
It's 30 seconds to be like, like it's working.
Um, take a moment.
Whereas it, cause I just don't think that you can get that too much post game.
Like results just don't go your way.
So you're probably a bit, um, influenced by how the game went.
Whereas once you kick a goal, you've got 30 seconds to just reset and yeah, like I
guess take a breather and whatnot.
And some people say if they do something either really good, like your goal or they make a
mistake can get caught in that moment.
But you seem quite good at like, you'll either celebrate or get pissed off at yourself and
then you're on to the next.
Like, what do you do to move on to the next thing?
Well, I think that like, it's just, especially AFL, like, um, you're like, when you make
a mistake, I think you think that 10,000 people are watching you, but really like when you're
As a spectator, you're not worried like about those things too much.
Like obviously on this, it's glaringly obvious, but a lot of those little mistakes that you
think you've made, you can't even notice them on the broadcast or when you're rewatching
the game, um, like you will notice them, but not many other people will.
And so I think that just switching off on those moments and just like switching back
on as quick as you can, like, um, like when I think it was round three, I kicked it into
the girl on the mark in the goal square.
Which was not a great moment, but like, you just got to smile.
And I knew, I knew that I was going to get another opportunity in that game.
So I just thought like, I still want the ball in my hands.
Like, yeah, like you just got to want those moments, got to own it.
Um, and yeah, and just in a way, like laugh it off.
Like that's always like inside.
I was like, you're a bloody idiot.
But like outside, I was like, no, just smile it off.
Don't worry about it.
And yeah, you just got to want the moment again.
I want to talk about your rising star speech acceptance.
How much did you practice?
Because I think you were pretty nervous.
I was so nervous.
I had like Alicia Eva next to me at the W awards and she was like, kind of saying like,
you're a real chance here.
And, and I had like a couple of wines in front of me and I was just like having the waters
and, and she was like, yeah, like you're a real chance.
I'm like, Eva, I can't.
Get up on this stage.
I'm looking around at the room and like the, the superstars of the game.
I'm like, I, I, I honestly don't want the award.
Like, don't let me get up on that stage.
Don't let me get up on that stage.
And then I won it and I got up on the stage.
And you nailed it.
Well, thankfully, cause I can, I can tell when I'm nervous and I'm talking cause I talk
really fast and, and my, my heart goes and my voice goes a bit like this.
So for this first half of that speech, I was so nervous and I can tell, I start to like
And then I get caught up on it, but then I also am trying to spit out words.
So it's like my brain is going a million miles an hour and, and yeah, and I guess luckily
I didn't say anything too stupid.
I reckon you nailed it.
Well, it's, it's a bit of like that self-criticism.
Didn't love it, but yeah, I mean it ticked a box.
Well, nah, I think you did good.
This year with the Giants, it's been rough.
You haven't got a lot of wins on the board.
Um, what's it like when you feel like you're playing well, um, but your team's not getting
And it's just about finding the right balance because like, it's always like, you should
always be team first.
And I'm always team first.
Like when Giants don't win, absolutely.
I am like filthy that like whole night and I stay up at night and you can't sleep.
And you're just thinking about all the things you could have done.
But I guess it's that like we have a 24 hour rule where it's like win or lose.
You got 24 hours to get over it.
And I think by the next day I'm always like, I'm okay.
Like I've had my night, I've had a bad night's sleep, but don't let it impact too many of
the next days following because you just, you got to prepare for the next game.
And, um, yeah, I guess it's also just finding that balance that you like, you don't want
to get yourself down.
If you're playing.
Well, but also if like, there's been a couple of games this year, I had a stinker, but the
team's gone well.
And I was like, like, that's so fine too.
Like, you also don't want to be like, just so individualized.
Like you just kind of got to be what the team needs you to be in those moments.
Like you don't want to be, um, Mrs.
Like, oh, I've just waltzed off the ground, kicked my five.
Like you, and like you're looking around and everyone's kind of got their heads down.
Like you don't want to be that type of person.
But then you don't want to be that type of person.
You don't want to be the total opposite where you might not have played well in the Giants
And you're kind of like, oh gosh, should have kicked that goal, blah, blah, blah.
So it's just, it's finding that balance and yeah, what the team needs you to be in that
I ask everyone when everyone, this question and it's, what is your favorite failure?
Oh, I know straight away.
I, um, it's, it's actually in footy.
It was a, uh, I think it was a, uh, it was a, uh, it was a, uh, it was a, uh, it was a
school's game, like year eight school game in, um, in Aubrey.
And we, our team, uh, we were, I think it was like a year eight or nine team doing the
state championships.
And we, if we won this game, we got to go on a trip away to Canberra.
I think it was, which back in those days was like a mini camp.
It was a real highlight.
And we were coming up against Billabong high or something.
Oh, where's that?
It sounds like a fun place to go.
But yeah, we were coming up against them and like, they were, um, we were the real
Like we were tiny compared to them.
And there was a moment in the game.
I think it was probably about 30 seconds left.
Took a mark in the center square area, played on and would have been probably about 35,
40 out and kicked it.
Basically started celebrating like, or like I was kind of hugging my friend.
We're like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
And it was a rainy day and it slipped through the point.
And to this day, I'm still like, oh, like if only that had gone through, like nothing
would have changed, obviously.
But I think like that was so good for me to experience that because I feel like up at
that stage, I'd never really had a moment where that had kind of happened.
Like I'd lost the game is always the other way around.
And for a kid who, again, like was a bit of an ego, uh, it was the best thing for it was
real, like humbling.
And I remember I was crying to my mom, I was crying to my dad.
And they were like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my
And they were kind of like, oh, she's never cried before.
So yeah, it was like, it was my best, it was the best thing for me.
Which, yeah, that's probably why.
Uh, if you were chatting to a little kid who just loves sport, maybe loved footy, what's
Um, well, I guess like you just got to have passion for it.
You got to want to do what you're doing.
I guess that's probably a reason why I never.
Really was successful in soccer because I just, I didn't have a passion for it.
Whereas, um, footy, you got like, yeah, you just got to want to do it.
And it's also the things you do when nobody's watching.
Like I've always said that you got, like, you can't be going out the back and doing
extras, um, like in your backyard because you think your parents are watching or anything.
Like it's the things you do when no one's watching.
Um, and it's the same with like AFL, the giants, like I can't go out and do extras and be like,
Hey, Kim, are you seeing this?
Like, yeah, you say you just, you gotta have a passion for it and yeah, you got to do the
extras because if you think about it, everyone else is training, everyone else is getting
Everyone else is doing the same, but it's the one percenters and the extras that no
That's what makes you get better.
What do you want to achieve in your AFLW career?
Gosh, I have no idea.
She's just coasting.
I'm just literally, I'm just taking it one game at a time.
One season at a time.
Um, I think that AFLW is so good for me because I probably wouldn't, um, be very successful
outside of footy.
Like I don't love having a job and working that nine to five, but, um, and I'm probably
not as committed as having that outside job.
Whereas, yeah, I guess footy has been great for me that I, it's allowed me to do what
I love and get paid for it.
So yeah, that's all.
I'm happy with at the moment is just living out, um, my youngster years and getting to
do what I love with my friends, living the dream.
What do you reckon then post footy could be a coaching career for you?
I don't know about coaching.
I mean, maybe, but I, I definitely do want to stay in sport.
Like that's my passion.
So, uh, I do love list management and like, yeah, I love like managing teams and just
From the, like the business side, it is very, um, yeah, business like, and just looking
at a team and seeing like, I know what you need type thing.
Um, that would be, and like, yeah, you'd just be going and watching footy all day, but you
wouldn't be a player and having to prepare for a game the next day.
So that could be nice.
You just sit there eating meat pies, watching the footy.
Literally like having a beer.
The absolute dream.
Living the dream and getting paid for it too.
Say an expensive hotels could be nice.
Putting on the Pullman robe.
She's envisioned the life already.
That, that could be the dream now.
Or if coaching is the path I take, then, um, yeah, that could also be something I look
What if you have to do a university degree to get one of those roles?
I think you actually do have to do some courses to do some of them.
Um, like I'd be fine with it cause it'd be, again, something that I enjoy doing.
Your mom could just defer it when things are getting tough, could just defer it.
Just push it back.
Like, I think I wouldn't be too bad.
I was, I was actually okay at school.
You just have to find something that you like.
You just got to find something you like and you're passionate about cause, and you're,
you have your own knowledge.
So you're not just getting it all from a book.
You can actually add in your own stories and anecdotes if you will.
I've got a would you rather to finish this off because you tell me you better come with the good content.
It's actually a little bit of it is story time.
So recently Riley and I went to the Hunter Valley for a friend's wedding and we got there quite late.
We were just saying like a little Airbnb on this cool little farm stay.
But it was quite late at night unpacking our suitcase when we got there and we were like we forgot the toothpaste.
Groceries were closed.
Like supermarkets were closed.
We were looking it up.
We were like is there somewhere.
I was going to go and knock on someone else's door to ask to borrow toothpaste but I was like we can't be doing that.
So we brushed our teeth with a toothbrush with no toothpaste on it.
Would you rather do that for the rest of your life or do that you only have toothpaste and you brush your teeth with your finger?
You know when you like stay at someone's house after you've been out for a few bibs and you like do that one with the toothpaste?
If you just use the toothbrush can you still have like breath control?
Mints or anything like that?
I had chewing gum and then brushed my teeth cold turkey on the toothbrush.
It was pretty gross.
I don't think sticking your finger in your mouth is overly hygienic.
It's not good and I still feel like you end up with furry teeth like no matter whether you have the toothpaste in there or not.
And surely you can make some sort of concoction that's not quite.
Crush up some like chewing mints.
Just for that mints taste.
For the minty freshness.
Thank you very, very much for coming on today.
It was very good to chat.
I'm a big fan of you just as a person and as a footy player.
I really like you and I'm stoked to have had you on the podcast.
No worries at all.
Thanks so much for having me.
See you on the Giants podcast.
Thanks so much for listening.
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