Carlton Blues AFLW star Darcy Vescio said women’s sport needed to be ‘fast forwarded’

An AFLW star has responded to criticism from former AFL legend Kane Cornes, arguing the game was crying out for a “leg up”.

Darcy Vescio is one of the biggest stars in the AFLW.

The third season of the AFLW is about to kick off one of the most rapid expansions Australian sport has seen.

After eight teams competed in the first two seasons, season three will see the North Melbourne Kangaroos and Geelong Cats take the league to double figures.

Season four, in 2020, will see the competition expand further to 14 teams and close in on the 18 sides in the men’s AFL competition.

However, the move has seen the league court controversy from various corners of the AFL community, including AFL 300-gamer turned media personality Kane Cornes.

Responding to calls by SEN’s Andy Maher — who will be a runner for the Blues women’s side — AFLW’s advertising was lacking in the lead-up to the season, Cornes argued the competition had already received more of a “leg up” than any other sport in Australia.

AFLW Carlton Blues star Darcy Vescio doesn’t really buy the idea the investment from the AFL was unwarranted, arguing women’s sport is crying out for greater representation.

She argued the AFLW needed to be placed in fast forward, especially with the early numbers coming into the game after the launch of the league.

Darcy Vescio in action for the Carlton Blues.

In the first year of AFLW, women made up 30 per cent of all football players at all levels with just under 500,000 female participants. More than 1500 teams were established within a year as the AFL pushed through rapid growth plans.

Vescio said it was pretty simplistic to think the AFLW had received an unwarranted boost.

“I think if you rewind four years and see what leg up the AFLW had, it was nothing — it didn’t exist,” she told news.com.au.

“It’s probably not a helpful way of looking at things by comparing different women’s sports, we’re all trying to get better conditions in every sport and form more elite pathways no matter what sport you’re playing whether it’s hockey or footy. Except perhaps for netball, it’s a guarantee the men’s pathway has been consolidated a lot stronger because it’s been going for longer.

“I’ve spoken to Kane before, I think he has a good understanding of AFLW and where it’s at but I don’t necessarily agree that the AFLW has gotten a leg up. Perhaps its been cleverly marketed and looking at where we’re at and when it was introduced, it really needed to be fast forwarded and a lot of funding needed to be poured into it because it took a long time to even be introduced.”

Vescio takes a one-handed mark last season.

Vescio was one of the women’s players crying out for increased investment in the game as a youngster.

Having come into the game as a five-year-old following in the footsteps of her older brother, Vescio played with the boys until she was 14 before giving the game away.

She returned as an 18-year-old and subsequently won four VWFL premierships between 2013 and 2016 — and was best on ground in two of the deciders (2015 and 2016) — before becoming the marquee player for the Blues for the 2017 launch of the AFLW.

PATH TO SUCCESS

Vescio backed up her standing in the national competition, winning the award for the AFLW’s top goal kicker and mark of the year, as well as being named in the inaugural AFLW All-Australian team.

The prolific star has continued her outstanding ways, winning the VFLW’s inaugural best and fairest crown last year, booting 26 goals in just nine games.

In the last game of the season Vescio kicked nine goals and took seven marks to pass Darebin’s Hannah Mouncey to claim the 2018 Rohenna Young Medal as the league’s leading goalscorer.

She was also named to the Carlton leadership group for the first time for the 2019 season, saying it was “a pretty unique position to be in” to be honoured by her peer group.

Off the field, Vescio has produced an even more impressive array of successes as one of the faces of the AFLW and signing up as an AFL multicultural ambassador.

The young star also helped design the Carlton jersey for the inaugural season of the AFLW as a graphic designer.

While Carlton wasn’t her club growing up, she said it’s amazing to be able to be part of the AFL community.

“I was actually a St Kilda supporter, but to be able to play for Carlton now it’s pretty amazing because it’s something none of the girls playing AFL ever thought they’d get the chance to do for all the clubs,” she said. “For Carlton to have given me that opportunity, its actually just changed everything in my life. It’s been amazing.”

Vescio said the AFLW has opened some incredible doors.

Vescio has also just been named a Kayo Sports ambassador.

“It’s always a good opportunity when possible to link to things you love and bring them together and being part of Kayo now is another opportunity to expose people to women’s footy and what we’re trying to achieve overall,” she said.

“It’s a very accessible way for people to be introduced to AFLW. It’s still a very new sport to Australia and I’m excited to be part of it.”

EXPANSION GROWING PAINS

With AFLW to increase to 14 teams next year, the expansion aim is to see each AFL club house a women’s team in the near future.

Speaking on Macquarie Sports Radio’s Hour of Power, the AFL’s Head of Women’s Football Nicole Livingstone said the number should reach 18 in coming years.

“It is part of a thought process for the AFL,” she said.

“The 18 teams we do have in the AFL are well supported and it’s important for us to capitalise on the fan base of the four clubs that aren’t slated to come in yet.

“It’s a long-term view that 18 clubs would be a good place to be but at the moment 14 teams are getting set to enter the league.”

When it comes to the expansion question, AFLW often receives criticism about its standard of competition.

Darcy Vescio with the crowd when AFLW debuted in 2017. Crowds have been steady at over 6,000 per match.

Vescio said it’s fairly easy to understand why there is a difference in year three of the women’s AFL, which has given female AFL players a pathway to higher levels.

“I think a lot of the time people see the AFL product and have certain expectations but if they haven’t researched or spent much time watching the women’s game then they don’t see that,” she said.

“I try to approach it from an education sense — it’s like banging your head against a brick wall if you’re trying to convince everyone that the standard will get better.

“I try to give context to where we’re at, even using myself as an example. Being a marquee player in the first year, you’re expected to be one of the best players in the comp yet you’ve never actually played in this comp before, you’ve never experienced what it’s like to be part of an AFL club, you’ve never played against these teams before.

“The actual format of AFLW is really tricky to perform in as it’s only seven games long so you don’t have that flow of a season. You’re not able to create those bonds with your teammates as well as you could in local competition where it’s twice as long.

“It’s pretty interesting I think when you’re trying to have these sorts of conversations, you’re battling for something much bigger than football, it’s trying to educate people who perhaps have very old-fashioned views of where women should be in the world.”

Darcy Vescio has been one of the AFLW’s best so far, but is impressed by what’s coming next.

While there have been criticisms of the expansion of the AFLW being too quick and outpacing the actual growth of the women’s game, Vescio said there’s incredible momentum.

“The competition has changed so much, even from year one. Even from the perspective of girls never being in an AFL environment before to be able to come into a club and have elite coaching and be in elite facilities, just the strength and conditioning aspect alone has changed the way the girls are moving,” she said.

“The new girls coming through they are just so much better than I was at 18. These girls have played all the way through and had opportunities to represent their state and be part of academies so they’re way more footy-developed.

“It will be interesting to see how this year goes. I don’t think the standard will drop too much but next year will be a true test. The girls will have to spread around more and the new girls coming in, that will be an interesting blend.”

The AFLW starts on Saturday night when Geelong hosts Collingwood at GMHBA Stadium while Carlton plays North Melbourne on Sunday in Hobart.

Every game of the AFLW will be streamed on Kayo Sports from just $25 per month for two devices at once on Apple and Telstra TV, for Apple and Google Android smartphones, on web browsers and via Google Chromecast Ultra devices.

Sign up before February 4 and get a full month of Kayo Sports for just $5 in Kayo’s ‘Feb for a Fiver’.

Originally published as Carlton Blues AFLW star Darcy Vescio said women’s sport needed to be ‘fast forwarded’