Netball/AFLW crosscoder Maisie Nankivell has made tough decision to step away from the Crows after being offered a T-Birds contract
The Crows will take eight picks into next week’s AFLW draft after South Australian rising sports star Maisie Nankivell decided to give up her rookie contract to play netball for the T-Birds.
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Crows AFLW rookie — and talented netballer — Maisie Nankivell has made the “tough” decision to step away from women’s football after being offered a playing contract with the Adelaide Thunderbirds for the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season.
Nankivell, 20, re-signed as a rookie with the Crows in April, but will now be placed on the club’s “inactive” list as she concentrates on netball.
This means the Crows will go into next week’s AFLW draft with an extra pick — taking the club’s draft haul to eight players.
In the 2019 AFLW season, Nankivell played two games — debuting in round one and also playing round two — where she averaged 3.5 disposals and five tackles.
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But it was the netball court where she really found her rhythm this year, after being elevated from T-Birds training partner to the court after injuries to Beth Cobden (knee) and Layla Guscoth (Achilles) forced line-up changes.
The injuries to those key players forced Nankivell — usually a centre/wing attack — out of her typical position and into wing defence where she flourished and went on to play seven games for the Thunderbirds.
She said when she was offered the playing contract for next season, she was shocked, but equally excited by the opportunity ahead.
“It means so much to me because through all my junior netball, it’s all I dreamed about,” she said.
“For all that hard work over the years to be paying off, it’s a really exciting opportunity.”
Nankivell, who is also studying criminology at university and won a Premier League Netball premiership with Matrics this year, said she wanted to stay involved with football and would run water at Crows AFLW home games in the 2020 season.
“In life you do have to make hard choices and I suppose with football, it’s developed so much within three years already that hopefully it will still be there and I’ll be able to go back and pick up from where I left off,” she said.
“(But) Suncorp Super Netball is probably the best competition in the world and to be playing against quality opposition that I myself, still being young, have looked up to for a long time and aspire to be like, it’s a surreal feeling to be playing against those types of players.”
Crows head of football administration, Phil Harper, said while the club was sad to put its popular rookie on the inactive list, it was done with pride.
“It’s what she’s always wanted,” Harper said.
“Maisie wanted to try and do (both), but the advice from her parents and from us is that she’s worked her whole life to get this opportunity; it would be foolish to give it anything but 100 per cent, even 95 is not enough.
“We think we can turn her into a really good footy player, and … if that’s one year or 10 years down the track, we think we can do that.
“So she’ll be going on our inactive list and we’ll end up with eight picks.”
* The AFLW Draft is on next Tuesday at the Victoria Pavilion at Melbourne Showgrounds.