Vikki Wall says the opportunity to use her physicality more in Aussie rules compared to ladies football is the aspect of the game which most intrigued her. The two-time Meath All-Ireland winner made her debut for North Melbourne in the AFLW last week.
"I've really been enjoying it so far," Wall told the Australian media ahead of this weekend's game against Melbourne, "it's definitely been interesting learning and getting used to the rules, but the girls have been great with bringing me onboard and management have been really helpful.
"During training, marking the ball and not hearing that it's been called 'touched' and then being surrounded by everyone straight away is a little bit of a shock to the system.
"I'm getting accustomed to being tackled more but I think it's probably the part of the game I was looking forward to most before coming here.
"Back home we do a similar gym regime and stuff like that, but we probably don't get to use our physicality as much as we'd like.
"I think in a positional sense, trying not to lead too early is definitely the type of thing I'm getting used to."
31 July 2022; Vikki Wall of Meath during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship Final match between Kerry and Meath at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Friday's game is a major one for the AFLW. It will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a part of a double-header with the Melbourne vs Sydney men's qualifying final.
"I think even being here (the MCG), it's fairly simple to understand the relevance of having an AFLW game here and it being before the men's final is a good step for AFLW," said Wall.
"It's really exciting and comparing it to our game back home where I think we had 49,000 for our final, it's going to be a great occasion for women's sport in general.
Back home, we would have been involved in finals in the last few years, and the first one we were involved in, I think it was a shock to the system, not being able to hear someone who's five or 10 metres away.
"The shouts that come in from management, you won't be able to hear those as much. You need to trust the teammates around you, and acknowledge that everyone will be able do their role regardless of being able to hear management or not."
Featured image: Neale Cousland / Shutterstock.com
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