Suns AFLW: Sam Virgo is raring to go after make the move from the Brisbane Lions to the Gold Coast Suns
Sam Virgo remembers the exact moment she fell in love with Aussie rules football.
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SAM Virgo remembers the exact moment she fell in love with Aussie rules football.
It was 1997 and she was at the part of a minority Adelaide crowd at the MCG when the Crows kicked four last quarter preliminary final goals to run out two-point winners against the Western Bulldogs.
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“We were living in Melbourne,” she said.
“We were down by a lot and ended up coming back and winning that game and I think that’s when I fell in love.”
While she played Auskick when she was eight years old, it took Virgo until the age of 25 to start playing for a club, winning the Marooka Roosters club best and fairest in 2015.
“I played a little bit at school but I didn’t really know there were any competitions so I followed it as a fan until I moved to Queensland when I was 25 and started playing for the Moorooka Roosters,” she said.
Three years later, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan announced that a national female league would be brought forward from its intended start date of 2020 to 2017.
Then 28, Virgo made the move to state league side, the Yeronga Devils in hopes of accelerating her AFLW dream.
“The Roosters were down a level so I decided it was time to get serious and put my head down and see if I could get myself drafted,” she said.
“It got serious really quickly.
“I’m pretty lucky actually because otherwise I would be waiting until this year so it worked out pretty well in terms of my age.”
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Her decision paid dividends and Virgo was drafted to the Brisbane Lions with pick 66 in the 2016 AFLW draft, making her debut in the Lions inaugural game against Melbourne and going on to be selected in the 2017 AFLW All-Australian side.
But Virgo’s dream run came to a grinding halt when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament playing for Yeronga in the 2017 QAFLW grand final.
“It was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in footy and in life,” she said.
“Being away from the thing you love and probably hooked on was a really difficult time.
“I’m better for it but it wasn’t easy.”
Acting as the Lions team manager for the following season, Virgo eventually recovered and played seven games for the lions in 2019 before her Tribal Sport boss and Suns AFLW coach David Lake propositioned her about starting afresh at a second AFLW club.
Now 32, Virgo is hellbent on helping a second club rise into AFLW folklore.
“I was talking to the girls in the change rooms earlier and we were getting a little bit teary,” she said.
“The moment isn’t lost on us that we’re wearing these numbers for the first time.
“It would be overwhelming pride to represent this club and the people of the Gold Coast so hopefully that becomes a reality.”
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