AFLW 2023: North Melbourne player Tess Craven on overcoming self doubt and her connection to Drysdale

Tess Craven was plagued by self-doubt and was battling on and off the field. But her greatest fear became a blessing. She opens up on the turning point and her supportive local club.

Tess Craven was battling on and off the field.

After a string of injury setbacks, the voice inside the young Roo’s head had won.

Craven was plagued by self-doubt, questioning her own performance and her role in the side.

Did she even deserve to be playing at AFLW level?

Inevitably the utility was dropped ahead of North Melbourne’s clash with Brisbane in round four.

“I guess just personally for me a couple of weeks prior I had a concussion and it was just as things were heating up, just as we were heading into practice matches,” Craven said.

“At the start of pre-season I injured my foot again. So it felt like I’d been working really hard a couple of times and have to restart because it was the second or third time something had happened.

“I started overthinking everything and questioning whether I actually deserved to be where I was and if you keep telling yourself you aren’t going to be good enough, you aren’t going to be good enough.”

Tess Craven was dropped earlier in the season. Picture: Getty Images

Being axed can often shatter the confidence of a player, especially one who is just 19. But for Craven it helped release the shackles.

An injury to one of her teammates allowed her to re-enter the senior side the next week and from there she hasn’t looked back.

Craven has played every game since returning to the North Melbourne line-up and on Sunday will play in an AFLW grand final against Brisbane — coincidentally, the side she missed out on playing in round four.

The Drysdale product puts it down to narrowing her focus on doing her little bit each week, rather than placing unrealistic expectations on herself.

“I wasn’t playing my best footy and I don’t think mentally I was in the best place so I think actually getting dropped gave me a bit of a circuit breaker where I could just think well, ‘the worst thing that I thought was possible has happened, and the world hasn’t ended so I can move on’,” Craven said.

“I think a large portion of why I have been able to keep my spot in the squad is mainly just because I have stopped stressing too much about trying to be the best player on the field or ‘be the best this or be the best that’.

“I’ve just decided well, ‘this is what the team needs me to do, so I’m going to do that to the best of my ability when I get the opportunity’. It takes a whole lot of pressure off your shoulders when you stop trying to be the best person ever and you just try to be an important cog in a well-oiled machine.

“I don’t think it was anyone’s expectation except my own, I think I was just putting unnecessary pressure on myself to do something I didn’t need to do.”

Tess Craven, Taylah Gatt and Amy Smith all smiles after North Melbourne’s preliminary final win. Picture: Getty Images

Taken with the 13th pick in the 2021 AFLW Draft, Craven is already starting to put together an impressive resume.

After playing one game in her debut season, she has been a regular in the talent-rich North Melbourne side, playing 24 games in season seven and 2023.

“I’m proud of where I’ve come from, obviously not satisfied, I want to go on and mature more but still very proud of where I am now,” Craven said.

“Recently I’ve been looking back at my games and I’ve been thinking, ‘yeah I think I did my bit’.

“And that gives me the most satisfaction, just knowing that I have contributed to the team. So yeah I’m proud, obviously being dropped isn’t ideal but everyone is dropped.”

HAWK SUPPORT

Craven was there watching as Drysdale went down to Torquay in the BFNL senior men’s grand final in September.

On Sunday, the entire community of Drysdale on the Bellarine Peninsula will be behind her eagerly watching the AFLW grand final.

The Drysdale Football Club, where Craven spent a lot of her time growing up, is holding a watch party for the match – and you suspect everyone will be hoping for a North Melbourne win.

Craven as a five year old decked out in Drysdale gear.

Craven played alongside Bailey Sykes as a junior. Picture: Mark Wilson

Draftees have been few and far between for the tight-knit town – GWS defender Connor Idun and former Geelong defender Tom Ruggles are a couple that spring to mind.

Craven remembers playing with the boys in juniors, including Bailey Sykes and Ben Henderson, who she watched in action at the BFNL grand final this year.

And while Craven has moved to Preston in Melbourne, Drysdale holds a special place in her heart.

“You can take me out of Drysdale but you can’t take Drysdale out of me,” Craven said.

“I grew up at that club, both my parents would do work at the club when the boys would be playing and everyone knew I was their kid and was just wandering around from a very young age,” Craven said.

“I was lucky enough to play footy there for most of my junior career and then even with the boys and stuff, the boys were never discriminatory to me.

“They really do get around us but I guess that is just small club community. Once you’re Drysdale, you’re always Drysdale.”

FALCONS FOLD

Another Geelong Falcons export joined North Melbourne over the off-season in former Hawthorn defender Eliza Shannon Craven and Shannon, 24, had crossed paths at the Falcons but she has got to know the Newtown & Chillwell product a lot better playing alongside her.

She is a little different to the outgoing Craven, but she has fitted into the side and the Roos defence seamlessly.

Tess Craven before she was drafted. Picture: Alan Barber

“Lize is just such a chill person, she’s so easy to be around, easy to get along with. And if you don’t it’s something wrong with you,” Craven said.

“I think she has fitted into our strongest asset, which is our defence, really nicely and to compete against some of the competition’s best forwards.

“Really, really impressive and one of the reasons why we’ve been so successful this year.

“But more importantly she’s a really great person and she’s really great to be around so she’s really, really good for our club.”

Originally published as AFLW 2023: North Melbourne player Tess Craven on overcoming self doubt and her connection to Drysdale