Essendon forward Sophie Alexander doesn’t intend to hang up her paramedic gear any time soon, despite the AFLW’s move to greater professionalism.
As hours and pay go up, some players have wanted to transition into a full-time professional football lifestyle, but Alexander has resisted.
Essendon forward Sophie Alexander is a paramedic.Credit: Jason South
“I’ve always thought it’s so important [having another job or career pursuit], not only for something at the end of footy, but to get you through footy. Because if footy is your world, and you have a bad game, or you’re not getting picked, like, the world crashes,” said Alexander.
When the league was introduced in 2017, about 60 per cent of AFLW players held full-time jobs, according to data from the AFL Players Association’s Insights and Impact report. That number has dropped dramatically to 16 per cent as of last year, with 36 per cent of players working part-time jobs to supplement their footballing income.
Under the 2023 collective bargaining agreement, the average AFLW player pay rose to $60,000, up from $46,000. It will rise to $82,000 by 2027.
Alexander works part-time during the AFLW season and full-time during the off-season. During the season, that is two or so paramedic shifts, including one that is a night after a day training session.
Does she find that manageable? “I prefer it,” she says. “I just came back from two weeks’ leave, and I nearly went mad because I didn’t have that outlet.
“Early days in my career, I was finding my feet, so I was getting dropped and injuries and just adjusting to footy world, and I didn’t have work, so it really affected me in that sense and then when I started working, yeah, just put so much into perspective,” said Alexander.
“When I’m at footy, footy is my world. And then when I’m away from footy, if I’m at work, it’s work ... But if I didn’t have work, I’d be at home thinking about footy. I’d be, whatever I’m doing, thinking about footy. You just go insane.”
However, Alexander notes the difficulty in finding careers that are flexible enough to complement the demands of an elite football career.
The round so far
- Sydney 8.2 (50) d Collingwood 4.11 (35) at North Sydney Oval. Swans co-captains Chloe Molloy (two goals) and Lucy McEvoy (one goal, 17 possessions) led from the front as the hosts overwhelmed their opponents with quick ball movement.
- West Coast 6.4 (40) d Richmond 5.9 (39) at Mineral Resources Park. West Coast forward Kellie Gibson kicked a goal with 43 seconds remaining to lift her side to a dramatic win, with Eagles coach Daisy Pearce happy to cop a “Gatorade shower” after watching her side blow a big lead before fighting back to snatch victory.
Alexander’s teammate and Bombers co-captain Steph Cain, who has a dual career as a project engineer in construction, said one of the next big challenges the league faced was how to maintain a life balance outside football for players entering the system, whether that included work or study.
“Particularly for these young 18-year-olds, they’ve now got the flexibility to not have to work the way that I did,” said Cain, 28, and an inaugural AFLW player.
Cain pointed out that when players were drafted, if they still lived at home, there was the option with a substantial base salary to invest all their time and energy into football.
“It’s like, how do we then get the balance in their lifestyle ... so when that they come out of the system, or they’re still in the system, and they’re working through it, that their mind isn’t fully immersed in football because, from a mental aspect, that can be seriously challenging, when you put everything into football and then, you know, it may not be working out the way that you want it.”
Essendon AFLW player Sophie Alexander.Credit: The Age
Regan Bunny, who spoke to this masthead while acting CEO of the AFLPA, said as the league transitioned into being professional, they were seeing a drop-off in players working and studying because they were getting paid enough not to.
While this has its drawcards, it also poses challenges with football prioritised over long-time career ambitions, instead of aligned.
Having dual careers and identities is something really distinct to the AFLW that needs to be held on to, said Bunny.
“It’s interesting, starting to see a little bit of shift with the AFL [men’s] players in that, particularly those that are later in their career going. ‘Shit, you know, I probably got a couple of seasons left in me. What am I going to do?’” said Bunny.
“So we’re thinking about how we front end load that with them so they’ve got some sort of career identity outside of football right from the start.
“So I think maintaining what we’ve got through W will be really, really important.”
Essendon’s opening AFLW game is on Saturday, August 31 at Windy Hill against Fremantle.