AFLW star Darcy Vescio opens up on impact of CBA standoff and where she found support
As the AFL Women’s collective bargaining agreement standoff simmered, Darcy Vescio received text messages that kept her on track to stand up for what mattered. She reveals what changed and why she took up the fight.
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The first text message pinged.
Then another, and another.
The trailblazers of women’s Australian rules were in Darcy Vescio’s corner.
As the Carlton star and almost 30 per cent of the AFL Women’s playing cohort objected a collective bargaining agreement offer in the face of predictions of an overwhelming vote of support, those who paved the way for the competition stood firm with the breakaway group that was lashed as divisive.
It was the ultimate franking of her stance, the Blues forward revealed to the Herald Sun.
“It was pretty full on … very intense,” Vescio said of the consultation and voting period.
“And just the way it all played out … I think we all felt like we were doing the right thing and standing for the right things but still you do get pitted against each other as players.
“It was a bit stressful, but we got some good things done.
“I found it really reassuring hearing from women who had been part of women’s footy and played before … they were reaching out and saying ‘this is exactly what you have to do, because if we hadn’t have stood up for things years ago, then there wouldn’t be a league now’.
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“You can’t just sit and wait for progress. You have to push it. People don’t just give you things because they’re nice. You actually have to prove a point.”
Vescio, housemate and All-Australian Geelong defender Meg McDonald, St Kilda’s Cat Phillips and Giant Pepa Randall were named as four who were leading the charge – a “quartet of power”, as they were labelled by one news outlet which led to graphic designer Vescio’s stellar Photoshop skills being put to use.
“Excited to reveal an exclusive strong-willed performance,” Vescio playfully posted on Instagram.
“Use discount code ‘DERAIL2020’ for 30 per cent off tickets.”
Her trademark humour proved an asset, as did McDonald, throughout the turbulent period.
“Because we’re housemates, the fact that we were able to debrief about things and talk about the meetings and discuss what we felt was right and what wasn’t, wasn’t something that everyone could … most girls don’t have that,” she said.
“You just hear what’s said, or you don’t really get to debrief or talk to another teammate in depth about it or another player in-depth. We felt really lucky that we had each other to bounce off and to be able to plan what we could do and then of course reaching out to other players who we knew felt the same was important.
“Before the vote it was a bit stressful because it was being said that it was just merely us that were upset. To come out and know that we were representing almost 30 per cent of the group was really important.”
While the pursuit of a 13-game home and away season was not ultimately reached, 98 per cent of players eventually voted “yes” on a deal that included changes to conditions such as notice periods and prizemoney.
An independent review of the competition has also been promised.
The bitter stand-off took its toll.
But the stand was dubbed the duo’s Billie Jean King moment, with many labelling the moment a line in the sand for the competition and the duo part of a stand that would be remembered as AFLW continued to grow.
Vescio, 26, said it was “hard to realise” the impact of the stance at the time, especially given the group’s key pursuit of every team playing each other by 2022 had not been realised.
“But it all matters,” she said.
“The small changes you make will build up and matter over three years especially. Hopefully what we built and consolidate now puts us in a better position in three years or two years to go again.
“No (we won’t go away). And I think that’s one of the biggest things we learned – it’s not something where you can just sit back and then have an intense one or two months trying to figure stuff out. It’s a constant slow burn. It is exhausting, but it’s what has to be done.”
There’s footy to be played, too, despite that exhaustion.
Vescio was unable to train with her teammates this week — there was a bigger exercise in play.
Instead, she was at her family’s farm in Markwood, just outside Wangaratta, which on Friday was under a watch and act warning for a bushfire that burned at Carboor, just 15 kilometres away.
The Blues and every AFLW outfit started their pre-season at the end of November, with Vescio — who played some VFLW over the winter before she was sidelined with a concussion — set to embark on her fourth season at the top level come February 7.
Carlton — which fell 45 points short of Adelaide in the grand final — has to find consistency, the goalkicker said, and start with a bang rather than try to claw its season back.
The competition has grown up a lot since a 22-year-old top-knotted Vescio took to the goalsquare when the competition kicked off amid an Ikon Park lockout in 2017.
She has, too.
“It just flies — it could easily be year two,” she said.
“It’s hard to know how much (I’ve matured), because even though you feel like you’ve been around for a while, Round 1 this year will be my 24th game.
“So it’s still not a lot of footy. It’s like we’ve played one complete mens’ season.
“I feel like I’m more calm heading into things. You know that there’s a lot of things out of your control that happen throughout the season, so you just have to ride the bumps and make do what you can out of whatever situation you’re dealt.
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“I was 22 then. Just out of uni. Now I’m 26 – you do feel older in the footy scheme of things.”
Insert her dry, poker-faced humour.
“I’m hoping to peak at around when Erin Phillips entered the competition (at 31), so I’ve got like another six or seven years until I hit my Phillips-prime,” she said with a wry grin.
“I do (still enjoy it). It’s just a shame that it’s such a small window to enjoy it. You do get swept up in the pressure and everything like that, so I do wish we had longer to experience that and build into form, which I think I’ve been pretty vocal about for a while. But I do still really enjoy it. It’s a different sort of footy but it’s been pretty good.”