Riley: ‘How I’ll be a leader at the Suns’

Experienced AFLW player Sally Riley is looked upon as a mentor for young Suns players and a sounding board for coaches but the former Crow says the benefits of her fresh start are two-fold for her own game.

EXPERIENCED AFLW player Sally Riley is looked upon as a mentor for young Suns players and a sounding board for coaches but the former Crow says the benefits of her fresh start are two-fold for her own game.

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The 29-year-old, who has 14 AFLW games and a premiership to her name, is one of the experienced five players Suns AFLW coach David Lake seeks out for guidance alongside Leah Kaslar (21 games), Jamie Stanton (23), Tiarna Ernst (22) and Sam Virgo (15).

She has already been a mentor for young Suns players yet to make their AFLW debut as the club prepares to make history in 2020.

Gold Coast Suns AFLW player Sally Riley. Picture: GETTY IMAGES

But it’s also the gains to her own game that also has Riley excited to deliver career-best form in 2020.

“I have realised what a lot of my strengths are since moving away from my previous environment in Adelaide that I didn’t know I had,” Riley said.

Sally Riley's first game of football. It was an Auskick game in 1999 at Waverley Oval and Riley was eight-years-old. The two boys pictured closest to Riley are Joel Kitchen (left) and Sam Cooper (right). Photo: Supplied.

“I realise the habits I do naturally now in my routine and the way I prepare myself. It’s been awesome to help a younger crew out and to have Lakey reaching out to ask what I think about things or how we can do something better is great. Some of us who have been there and done it before have been able to shape how things operate.

“Even for my own game, 18-year-old players who have never played a game have helped me improve. The way they play, their skills are more than I could have ever had at that age.

“They are more experienced than me in some ways because they have played for 10 years. I’m learning every day.”

Queensland will become the fourth state Riley has lived in after the Victorian-born player moved to the Northern Territory for work post-school before shifting to Adelaide.

The Miami State High School teacher would drive three hours to Darwin each weekend to play football before being drafted to Adelaide where she was part of the leadership group in 2017 and 2018.

Riley signed with Gold Coast on the final day of the free agency period in April after not being offered another deal with the Adelaide Crows where she has spent three seasons.