Collingwood’s Cecilia McIntosh ready for her next sporting challenge

A SILVER medallist at the Commonwealth Games, Winter Olympian and national weightlifter champ, Cecilia McIntosh has done it all and is now aiming to be a star of the AFLW.

Cecilia McIntosh has been a star in many sports and her next challenge is playing in the AFLW this year. Picture: David Smith

COLLINGWOOD defender Cecilia McIntosh has done it all.

The Magpies defender won a silver medal in javelin at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has

represented Australia in bobsled at the Winter Olympics and has been a champion national

weightlifter.

Now she’s set her sights on becoming one of the stars of the AFLW.

But it hasn’t been an easy ride. Shoulder injuries ended McIntosh’s javelin career, she tore her

anterior cruciate ligament in 2015 while playing for Melbourne in an exhibition game at the MCG against Western Bulldogs and has a very embarrassing bobsled story to tell.

McIntosh sat down with KATE SALEMME ahead of the inaugural AFLW season.

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Name: Cecilia McIntosh

Club: Collingwood

Position: Defender/utility

Age: 37

From: Melbourne University (VWFL)

KATE SALEMME: Who was your sporting hero growing up?

CECILIA McINTOSH: The reason why I wanted to be an Olympian – because that’s what I wanted to do in the first place – it would have been the likes of Carl Lewis and then a few years later Debbie Flintoff-King and then Cathy Freeman and those sorts of people.

What’s your greatest sporting memory?

That’s really tough because I’ve got a few but can’t really go past being a medallist at any major

championships, so I think the Commonwealth Games back in 2002, winning silver and getting to

stand on that dais and actually being so close to being the gold medallist and having the anthem

played for you.

Who did you barrack for growing up?

St Kilda, all the way … but I guess now I’m a Collingwood supporter too.

Cecilia McIntosh with her silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Picture: Craig Borrow

Former javelin thrower Cecilia McIntosh.

Finish this sentence: I wanted to be a footy player because …

It’s something different and a new challenge. Being a javelin thrower and then not being able to

complete javelin-wise anymore with my shoulder breaking down, I thought why not take on a new challenge. I knew I could kick a footy, and being a track and field athlete I knew I could run so it was a matter of combining the two.

What is a common misconception people make about you?

That I’m rough because of the way I look. It’s actually quite the opposite - I’m a shy person, I don’t talk much in crowds or around people. (But) because I’ve got tattoos, short hair and piercings, people think I’m rough and boisterous.

A word or phrase you use too much?

“No worries”. Everything is no worries.

Which club are you most wary of in the inaugural season and why?

The Bulldogs because their midfield is super strong - not only do they have a good starting midfield, they’ve also got a good rotation midfield as well, so if they’re going to win the ball out of the middle, then both our ends are going to have to do all the work, especially our defence. But in saying that we’ve got a good midfield as well and having (ruck) Emma King on your team is a big gain. They’d probably be closely followed by Fremantle, I think they’ll be good across the board.

The player you might not have heard of but will be a star is …

Brittany Bonnici, I think she’s going to be great. I’ve played on her a few times at training and she’s really strong and quick and I think she can be an x-factor.

Do you play in the same style as any of the mens players?

To be honest I don’t know, I don’t really follow a player to emulate myself on, I play my way. I am a running half-back but I’m also a utility, so I can actually play anywhere. (In 2016) I played more as a key defender so I got all the big names like ‘Mo’ (Collingwood marquee Moana Hope), Darcy (Carlton marquee Vescio), I got them all. Where I think I can burn teams is my rebound out of half-back … maybe a little bit like (Josh) Gibson or a (Luke) Hodge. I like to run off my opponent.

McIntosh in action for Melbourne in last year’s exhibition match against the Western Bulldogs.Picture: Michael Klein

What do you do when you’re not playing footy?

I work full-time doing a range of jobs from invoicing, quoting, working for an engineer and a retail distributor but I’m also a strength and conditioning coach for Yarra Ariels Victoria Netball League club where I look after about 80-100 athletes. I also look after the men’s Victorian netball team as well, who’ll be going to nationals in April.

Do you have any pre-game routines and/or superstitions?

I wouldn’t say superstitions, it’s more of a routine but in saying that if I’m thrown out of that routine it doesn’t bother me. I have the same things for breakfast, have a shower, get dressed and get to the ground at a certain time before the game. (So) I’ve got a routine but not a superstitious one. I also listen to a bit of music in the rooms beforehand, not for too long, but just to zone out and get pumped up a bit. I listen to a lot of different things but last year I listened to, and almost always end on The Uprising by Muse.

Most embarrassing sporting moment?

Bobsledding, and this is a good one. I’d never been on ice before and my friend who was a

bobsledder at the previous Olympics emailed me and asked if I could drop everything and come and trial for the Olympics and six days later I’m in the States. Twenty-four hours after I’d arrived I was on the ice and going down – it was my first time on the ice. My first ever run down I pushed faster than anyone else there so they put me in the team. (But) when I got to the end of the track I was as sick as a dog, the motion sickness killed me, it was the sickest I’d ever felt in my life. I couldn’t go down again that night, I just couldn’t handle being alive let alone pushing a bobsled.

That same week we were still practising before my first competition, which was in a couple of days even though I’d only been there a few days. We pushed off the start and are running down and the sled gets away from me so I go to jump in and I can’t make it into the sled so I missed it and went down on my a--- and slid down a couple of corners on the track.

What show do you like to binge watch?

A lot. One of my hobbies would be watching TV series and going to the movie - I have the biggest collection of TV series and DVDs at home. At the moment I’m going through Gossip Girl again but my favourite one would have to be Buffy. The amount of times I’ve watched that, it’s just a classic. Pretty Little Liars would have to be my other one. I didn’t start watching it until it was up to season four, so I went up to JB Hi-Fi (and bought them) and home I went and bang, watched one after the other after the other. I can watch a season in two days. I’m good at my binge watching.

McIntosh playing for Melbourne University in the VWFL. Picture: Vicki Hansen

If you were in charge at AFL house for a week what would you do?

What could I do would be more the question. Call a press conference, maybe start dishing out a bit more money to the players and maybe change a few things. I think a lot goes into coaches and stuff like that when we need to be thinking more of the athletes because they’re the ones that do bring in the ratings and draw in the fans. For the guys it’s not that much of a big deal because they get paid a lot so they’re actually all right but the girls are a different story. I’d still make sure the guys are getting what they deserve but for the women, at the moment we work full-time and it’s hard.

If your house was burning down, what’s the first thing you’d grab before escaping?

I’m torn between all my trophies and my DVD collection and the TV but I guess they can be replaced. So my silver medal from the Commonwealth Games and whatever I could out of what I’ve achieved. I have a memorabilia room at home, so whatever I could scoop out of there. I’ve got an Olympic flag and I’ve got a Manchester (Commonwealth Games) flag that I stole from Manchester – I did the whole Dawn Fraser thing and stole a flag. And also my Helen Lambert best and fairest (award) from the women’s league.

What do you love most about footy and being a footy player?

Competition. I just seem to step from one sport to another to another, I just love that

competitiveness. It’s not just about competing against other people and trying my best to beat

them, it’s actually competing against myself and being better myself. The reason why I wanted to be an Olympian was I wanted to inspire people because that’s what Carl Lewis and all them did for me, I was so inspired by them and I wanted to do that for other people. Whether I inspired one person or 100 didn’t matter. When someone says to me that I’m their idol or

I inspire them, then I’ve done my job for the day.

What’s been the biggest challenge about being a woman playing footy?

It comes back to money. Having to hold down a full-time job then your club wanting you to train as much as you can, to juggle it all (is tough). Before we had the AFL Women’s, we’d have to go see our own doctors, our own physio and for that you had to go into your own personal time. It’s hard to have a training session and work full-time and try to get an appointment and for me, it’s always cutting into work time and I’m always having to leave work early, which means it cuts into either my annual leave or sick leave, depending on what I take, or I ask not to be paid for the hours I’ve missed. That’s the hardest thing.