Eva Campo set to play first game of football nine months after losing brother Nick in car accident, winning premiership with Claremont

Eva Campo went from winning a premiership with Claremont to losing her brother Nick in a car accident in a week. As she prepares to play her first game of football since, she shares her story with Eliza Reilly.

Eva Campo is returning to football to help honour her late brother Nick.

Standing on a premiership dais with a medal around her neck, Eva Campo could never have predicted the shattering phone call she’d receive seven days later.

“I went from one Saturday in July, winning a flag with a bunch of girls that mean so much to me to seven days later, sitting in a harshly lit hospital room with police telling me my brother had just been killed,” she said.

Not a day goes by that Campo, 22, doesn’t think about Nick.

Campo describes her brother as a boy with a cheeky grin, floppy blond hair and the world at his feet.

In the early hours of July 14 last year, he died in a car crash on his 18th birthday.

He and three mates, some of whom he played football with at South Fremantle, were on their way to Leederville. The driver was under the influence of cocaine and speeding when he collided with an oncoming Jeep in Perth’s south.

The 18-year-old driver, who cannot be named, is due to be sentenced this month after pleading guilty to manslaughter and five other charges.

It’s been nine months since Eva won a WAFLW premiership with Claremont and nine months since she lost Nick. Grief doesn’t even begin to touch the sides.

“I never thought it would have happened to Nick,” Campo tells this masthead.

“After that, a lot is a blur.

“It’s still very raw. I still struggle a lot with the grief. It hasn’t gotten better. Sometimes I feel worse than the weeks and the days after it happened.

“I’m struggling a lot with things I never thought I would have struggled with. At the end of last year, my mood dropped off completely and I started not wanting to do things I usually would do.

“I thought what’s the point of playing sport? Why am I pursuing a career that’s so time-consuming?

“I would always think ‘What would Nick do? What would Nick want me to do?’ The answer was I didn’t really know.”

Eva and Nick Campo. Picture: Supplied.

*****

Growing up in Kalgoorlie with brothers Nick and Charlie, dad Daniel and mum Bianca, Campo’s first sporting pursuit was soccer. She loved footy though, specifically Carlton.

The Campos moved to Perth in 2018 and Eva starting playing state league football for Fremantle City in the NPLW.

When she graduated high school, she realised she no longer felt the same way about the round ball as she did growing up.

“I went to a few trainings down at South Fremantle back in the day when I was unsure if I was going to quit soccer but I ended up playing another year,” she said.

“The next year, I remember seeing a social media post from Claremont’s women’s team that said they were having a come and try day, no experience required.

“I liked the club and the area and their jumper looked like Carlton’s.”

From her very first drop punt, Campo was hooked. It didn’t matter that Nick was playing 20 minutes down the road for South Fremantle, one of the Tigers’ rivals. There was something about Claremont that made her feel whole again.

“I did that training session and loved it,” she said. “My brother’s and I used to kick the footy to each other in the backyard so I learnt back then.

“The camaraderie that everyone had with each other was something I hadn’t seen before in sport.

“I always thought it would be really nice for Nick and I to play at the same club in the future.”

Eva Campo with brothers Charlie and Nick. Picture: Supplied.

Campo split her debut season between Claremont’s league and reserves side, winning a flag with the latter on a historic double premiership day for the club in 2022.

A broken arm curtailed her 2023 season but she fought her way back into the side in time to experience an agonising grand final defeat against East Fremantle.

Last year in 2024, Campo continued to emerge as one of Claremont’s best young players.

Teammates say that she has the best checkside kick in the WAFLW. At training and during games, you can always find Campo by the group of smiling and laughing teammates who flank her. Her caring personality shines through in her football and she’ll do anything for the team.

With Campo playing a pivotal role in attack, the Tigers got revenge on the Sharks in the grand final.

Eva Campo (#21) celebrates with Rachel Ortlepp after she kicked the sealer in the 2024 WAFLW grand final. Picture: Supplied.

“In the dying moments, Rachel Ortlepp kicked that insane goal and I was right there,” she said. “I was the first one she ran up to.

“It was such a special moment.”

Seven days later, everything changed.

*****

This Saturday, Campo will play her first game of football since the 2024 grand final.

Since losing Nick.

Life, understandably, looks very different to what it did back then.

At the start of the year, Campo moved to Geraldton, four hours north of Perth, to undertake a regional placement as part of her medical degree. It was one of the most difficult decisions she’s had to make.

“It was always my plan when I first started my medical degree,” she said.

“I’ve joked to people that I want to specialise in being the Carlton doctor. I’ve thought about opening up my own country sports practice in a rural area.

“I started questioning whether I should be moving away from everything I know and my family for a year. At the end of the day, I thought it was something I needed to do for myself.

“I’d like to think Nick was always proud of me. He’d tell people that his sister was going to be a doctor and that if they needed anything checked out to ask me.

“I thought he wouldn’t want me to mope around and give up or defer my degree. It’s not fair for me to put my life on hold for something that was out of my control.

“It’s been really good but it’s also been really tough. I don’t regret my decision and I’ve felt so welcomed here by the hospital but also the sporting community.”

Eva Campo celebrates Claremont's 2024 premiership with teammate Bridie Garlick. Picture: Supplied.

Nick Campo was one of South Fremantle's most important players last year. Pic: Supplied.

She’s swapped the CFC monogram for the navy blue ‘V’ of Chapman Valley, last year’s Great Northern Football League runners-up.

There’s no one running her water mid-training session anymore, access to training grounds is a constant battle and potholes are a common occurrence but Campo has found some semblance of solace in the country.

“Starting fresh in a new town, not that I didn’t enjoy it at Claremont, but it’s been nice to take a step back and focus on other things because footy was a big part of my life in Perth,” she said. “I’m trying to look after myself and footy can take a chill pill.

“I want to find enjoyment again, in life in general.

“I’m taking things one day at a time. Every day is different for me.”

Grief initially stole football from Campo.

Nick Campo was a massive Collingwood fan. Picture: Supplied.

Eva Campo with teammates Bridie Garlick and Claudia Wright. Picture: Supplied.

It’s intrinsically linked to Nick.

She wasn’t sure if she would play again.

When the fog momentarily parted, Campo concluded she wouldn’t be the same without it.

“I was playing a sport that I never really thought I’d be playing and I wouldn’t have been doing it if not for my brothers, Nick in particular, and seeing him achieve everything he did during his short time inspired me to play footy,” she said.

“When I think of footy, I think of Nick. I turn on the footy and see Collingwood playing and that was his team. I won’t miss a game anymore.”

Every kick, every tackle, every goal from here on in will be for Nick.

“When I’m playing, when I’m training, I hear his little voice in the back of my head,” Campo said. “It’s nice to have that.

“80 per cent of the time, he’s giving me shit. He’s saying ‘Mate, what is that kick? What is that technique? Get off the field mate!’

“It reminds me of him and reminds me that he’s here somewhere. His memory lives in so many different spaces.”

In the wake of Nick’s death, the Campo family has launched the #CallOutForNick road safety campaign. – If someone isn’t okay to drive – If you see risk-taking behaviour – If someone isn’t wearing a seatbelt –. Honour Nick’s legacy by making safe choices on the road.

Originally published as Eva Campo set to play first game of football nine months after losing brother Nick in car accident, winning premiership with Claremont