Lucy McEvoy preparing to fly the nest and move to the big smoke as top draft selection looms

Lucy McEvoy’s football CV has some serious credentials, with the Geelong Falcons captain preparing to fly the nest and move to the big smoke. So where will she end up on come draft day?

Lucy McEvoy celebrates after the TAC Cup Grand Final with the Falcons. Picture: Mark Wilson

Lucy McEvoy can just about do it all.

The Geelong Falcons captain has a handful of All Australian berths on her football CV — across all lines of the ground.

After a few years being thrown from one end of the ground to the other, the young gun goes into Tuesday’s AFLW draft as an All-Australian defender, midfielder and forward.

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In all positions, McEvoy prepared to “give it a crack and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t … if it does, it does”.

It did.

“I played most of my junior footy in the backline, with the boys,” she said.

“I had kicking out duties, which I didn’t mind.

“Then I think it was in NAB League a couple of years ago … the coach threw me down forward for a bit of a change-up to see what happened. I managed to kick a few snags. I played last year’s national championships all forward.

Lucy McEvoy is one of the top prospects in the AFLW draft. Picture: Getty Images

“In the first game we played Queensland at Metricon in the first round of NAB League, I don’t think I even touched it in the first quarter. I had no idea what I was doing. Then I managed to kick some goals — a few were a bit flukey.

“Then this year, NAB League coach was like ‘you’re in the middle, go nuts’. I didn’t really have an issue with it.”

Typically nonchalant, McEvoy — cousin of former Saint and now Hawk Ben McEvoy — downplayed her influence, but she is likely to be selected by the Western Bulldogs, Carlton or St Kilda as one of the top handful of picks.

Her decision to select Melbourne metro over Geelong caused a stir, but she said her football combined with ambitions to study paramedicine — along with her love for the big smoke — had won out.

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“It took me a while to make the decision … I apologised so many times (when I told the Cats),” she said.

“It was a massive weight lifted when I had that sorted and I could just focus on school. It’s out of my control now — all I can do is put my best foot forward and hope for the best, really.”

Originally published as Lucy McEvoy preparing to fly the nest and move to the big smoke as top draft selection looms