‘I’m buzzing for this’
WALL READY TO EMBRACE NEW LIFE IN OZ
VIKKI Wall is no Phil Mickelson, trying to blow up the equivalent of her domestic tour for a few dollars more. You can hear in her voice that leaving the Meath team she has been involved with since she was just 16 will be a wrench. That leaving her own club in Dunboyne for a life in the AFLW will be all that and more.
But the prospect of a contract with North Melbourne and the chance to live the life of a fulltime athlete in sun-kissed climes was just too good to turn down. And few will begrudge the 2021 Player of the Year the opportunity either as she prepares to link up with the expanded Aussie Rules league that is an obvious attraction for the cream of the ladies game here in Ireland.
‘I don’t think anybody is going over purely for the money. I don’t think that’s the main draw to it. I think you look at it in a sense of a lifestyle, a new challenge,’ she said.
‘I think it’s exciting to be going over to a game where you are going to be a complete newbie, you are going to have to learn all about it, even just tactically and all the other things that come with it. It’s an exciting challenge and that is not to say I have perfected the tactics in GAA or my knowledge, I think I have plenty of room to grow in that as well.’
And yet there is no getting away from how her departure will impact Meath. What a loss to the game domestically she will be, even in terms of the national picture and how players like herself have helped to capture the imagination and give ladies football a new, elevated profile.
That’s why she is one of five ambassadors selected by AIG Ireland to promote its summer sponsorship campaign For Times Like These, which focuses on the times, lives and sporting experiences of those star LGFA players. You can see in her face that she’s had to wrestle hard with all of those factors. ‘I have been playing with Meath since I was 16 and it is something that is such a huge part of my life and it’s definitely not something that I’m finished with yet. I think I hopefully have a lot of years left with me playing for Meath. So yeah, just weighing up that overall comparison of sports first of all, and then Meath and everything like that…’ What helped convince her was that she was able to head out to Australia once her season with Meath ends. Their defence of their All-Ireland title started with an emphatic win over Monaghan last weekend and they are away to Armagh this Sunday.
‘Once I had committed to Meath this year it was something when I had the conversations with the club that they were allowing me to come out after — that was a big factor for me.
‘Then I suppose leaving Ireland in general will be a big move but it’s something I’m looking forward to, and the chance to play a sport professionally and hopefully do a bit of travelling as well.’
With news of her signing coming after much speculation, she explains: ‘I wouldn’t say it’s a
huge relief, it’s something I’m looking forward to and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the last while. It wasn’t really a quick decision or a quick process. I had that time to think about it properly so it wasn’t a rushed decision.
‘I’m buzzing for it. I wouldn’t say I’m feeling a huge amount of pressure, to be honest. I just think it’s exciting. I wouldn’t say I’m going down there to prove a point to anyone else, I’m going down for me and to enjoy it and to challenge myself, to see how I can adapt and push myself outside of my comfort zone. I’m not under any illusions that it’s going to be a difficult transfer but I think that’s the main draw of it.’
As to what position she will play in the AFLW?
‘It’s an interesting one. Their positions are a little bit different than ours but I think initially inside the forward line and then maybe in future moving out a bit further.’
First, there is the more pressing matter of trying to beat Armagh after Meath used their All-Ireland quarter-final victory over the same opposition last year as a springboard to that shock final win over a Dublin team chasing a five in a row.
‘I don’t think we are putting a huge amount of pressure on ourselves. I think we want to play good football, I think that’s our main aim at the moment, keep the focus on improving every single game and I think we are doing that.’