AFLW: Kangaroos defender Lulu Pullar talks balancing life as a junior doctor and playing in AFLW

A normal day can start at footy training and end in the emergency department of Sunshine Hospital, but for Kangaroo Lulu Pullar, footy can be a bit more unpredictable.

Lulu Pullar is representing North Melbourne in the AFLW grand final this weekend. During the week she continues her day job as a junior doctor at Sunshine Hospital., , Picture: Western Health

A normal day can start at footy training and end in the emergency department of Sunshine Hospital for North Melbourne recruit Lulu Pullar.

Not due to anything untoward – that’s just the juggle of her two jobs.

This week, the 25-year-old will counter the unpredictability of night shift in the ED before attempting to achieve the ultimate of AFL Women’s – a premiership.

“(The footy) is actually probably a little bit more terrifying, to be honest,” Pullar laughed this week.

Lulu Pullar juggles working in a hospital with her AFLW dreams. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“Football is incredibly unpredictable and there’s so many more emotions and bias involved in a game of football, as opposed to treating patients in a hospital.

“On the footy field, because I have that mindset (of asking for help) at work and I’ve had that kind of training, I’d like to think I get less rattled on a footy field, but of course there’s always moments and you do get quite rattled and make a couple of errors in a row.

“Crock (coach Darren Crocker) always says ‘bring yourself back to the present’ – you can’t control what’s happened in the past, you can’t control what will happen in the future, and I think my studies and my training in medicine has actually kind of helped me translate that to football as well. Which I am hoping for dear life carries me in good stead on Sunday.”

As her teammates sipped on lemonades and H2O at Monday night’s W Awards at Crown Palladium – no French champagne for them as they hope to pop bottles on Sunday evening – Pullar worked a shift on the ED until 11pm.

Major traumas, broken bones, kids with croup, all kinds of emergency situations a world away from the glamour of the coral carpet.

Working within the Western Health team – which Pullar has done since August – is not something she takes for granted, having moved to Melbourne from Brisbane at the end of last AFLW season.

Pullar works as a junior doctor at Sunshine Hospital. Picture: Western Health

“I missed the entire awards ceremony … you get allocated to different areas in the emergency department and essentially are just seeing patients and treating them,” Pullar said.

“You really have to go in there with no bias.

“Sunshine is a massive community in Melbourne. It’s a vulnerable community with a lot of immigrant population and non-English speaking backgrounds, which leads to people presenting quite late to emergency departments and with quite advanced clinical signs and diseases, which makes my job as a doctor quite challenging but also incredibly rewarding.

“I go to work and you do have to be switched on and give a lot of time and energy to these people – Melbourne is a massive city and the service that Western Health offers out there is probably one of the biggest in the state.

“I actually really thoroughly enjoy working in this demographic, because you truly feel like sometimes you are making a difference which is really nice.”

A typical work week sees four 10-hour shifts across the seven-day roster, which she tinkered to her favour with a little bit of faith for grand final week.

“I had a lot of belief in our team, so I actually have worked some extra shifts over the last three weeks prior (to grand final week) and I’ve got to bank up a few shifts over Christmas as well,” she said.

“So I’m only working 20 hours this week – one Monday night, one on Thursday and then focus on footy after that.

“I definitely have to work. I’m one of those people – I actually really love going to work. I value both of my careers and I don’t know what I’d do if I was just sitting at home twiddling my thumbs thinking about all the mistakes I could potentially make (in the game).

“I’ve just done a bit of preparation and obviously had strong belief that we’d get to this game.”

(L-R) Taylah Gatt, Lulu Pullar, Kate Shierlaw and Ruby Tripodi of the Kangaroos celebrate after their preliminary final victory. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Not only does AFLW’s biggest occasion await on Sunday, but also her former teammates.

An ex-Lion, lifelong Brisbane supporter and former Brisbane Roar player in the W-League, Pullar played seasons six and seven of AFLW in 2022 at the Lions and was an emergency for last year’s grand final, which Melbourne claimed at Springfield.

“I at least know what’s coming. I didn’t play … but trained and soaked up that energy,” she said.

“If it’s taught me anything, it’s that these games are really hard to make. They’re really hard to win. And if you’re lucky enough and you’ve earned the right to be there, you’ve got to make the most of it and you’ve got to enjoy it. I just see a brilliant opportunity ahead of us and I think right now I’m just thinking about main training and how can we best prepare?

What more can we do to prepare, so when that day does come on Sunday, you’ve done everything you possibly can.”

The Pullar Pocket could be in full swing at Ikon Park, too, with a big crew of family and friends making the trip south.

You’ll hear them, she says.

“Grand finals are special days. You want your closest family and friends here,” Pullar beamed.

“They wouldn’t miss it for the world. They will be loud … and hopefully not too obnoxious.”