AFLW draft: Geelong Falcons midfielder Stella Huxtable opens up on sports role models, and becoming a forward threat
She’s the daughter of a Mathieson medallist and the younger sister of a rising pro surfer, but Stella Huxtable is ready to forge her own path at this month’s national AFLW draft.
When it comes to the value of hard work, Stella Huxtable has the right role models in her family corner.
The daughter of local football champion Chris – a two-time North Shore and Torquay premiership midfielder and 2001 Mathieson medallist – 17-year-old Stella is hoping to realise her own footy dreams at this year’s national AFLW draft on December 15.
A strong and hard-running midfielder like her dad – though she admits she might of missed his speed genes – Stella heads into the draft as arguably the Geelong Falcons’ top draft prospect, years after first falling in love with the game as a junior at Torquay Tigers.
“My dad, he played footy and he’s really shown us how to work hard, and to work hard for things we want,” Stella said from inside the bowels of the Falcons’ Highton base.
“He’s definitely been a big role model this year.
“And as much as it’s annoying they tell you all this stuff, like ‘try do this next game, try and do this’ … it’s all for the right reasons and wanting you to be better, and help you to get to your goals.”
A strong work ethic runs right through the Huxtable family, Stella looking up to both her parents Chris and Tania when it comes to running their own business – the Clonard College graduate hopeful of also going into the family business by studying Osteopathy at university next year.
Then there is older brother and surfer Xavier, who is forging ahead in his own elite sporting career on the WSL Challenger Series.
A rising star in the sport, the 23-year-old defeated world No. 1 Italo Ferreira at this year’s Bells Beach Rip Curl Pro as a wildcard.
“Having a brother who is also in quite a serious sport – and he’s looking to go somewhere – I guess you do follow his steps,” Stella said of her brother’s influence.
“Watching what he does, and the effort he puts into his sport and the results he gets, it really shows.
“It’s such an individual sport, it’s your fault if you lose … he really works, he’s training all the time, two times a day.
“It shows improvement, and when he loses, he doesn’t give up, he keeps on going.
“I see someone who is still continuing to try even after losing a couple heats – I think that happens the same as footy, you don’t get the disposals you want but you just keep trying, you find other ways around it.”
Growing up in Jan Juc, there’s little surprise the Huxtable’s have mixed surfing with football, and Stella still hits the waves when she can too, as well as teaching others.
The youngest sister of two older brothers – Xavier and Ethan, 21 – ruffing it with her siblings was the ultimate test of resilience for Stella, who followed in their footsteps by playing football for the Tigers, starting in U12s.
Shocked by making her first Falcons’ squad in 2022, so to was the fact she’d ultimately play a handful of U18s games that same season at just 14 years old.
“I think they threw me onto the wing, and I didn’t really get a touch so I got dropped,” Stella recalled.
“But I wasn’t even angry that I was dropped, I was just proud I got a chance to be able to play.”
Being in a high performance environment the past four years has suited the accomplished footballer – though she insists she tries not to lose her sense of fun and enjoyment for the game she first found at Torquay, confident it was when she played her best football.
“Being in a serious environment, and training … I think I fell in love with the part, how you have a schedule and you work towards it,” Huxtable explained.
“And I can’t sit and do nothing, so I love training, I can’t have breaks.”
Already highly accomplished heading into her draft year – with U16 all-Australian honours and Vic Country U18 selection as a bottom-ager — Stella said it had “clicked” for her this year.
“It was okay, ‘got to be serious’, and I’d always been pretty serious, but this year, you think, this is my draft year, you have to show something,” she said.
Engaging with extra external training some 12 months ago through ex-VFL player Will Sexton, Stella has been able to work on specific areas of her games, particularly around her efficiency with the ball.
“There was small goals, like trying to have better possession of the ball … taking it on, taking the play on,” she said.
She’ll enter this month’s draft happy and content with the uber consistent season she strung together with the Falcons, averaging 27 disposals, 6.2 tackles and 3.1 inside 50s across 12 games, while she was among Vic Country’s best in two of their four games at the national championships to earn a state combine invite.
An inside midfielder who can dominate in the air – she ranked in the top 5 at the state combine for both the standing and running vertical jump – Stella also made an impact when she pushed into the forward line in a bid to show her versatility to scouts.
Kicking 10 goals – the second-highest for Falcons – and a season-high three in Tasmania, it’s no doubt another string to her bow in a bid to reach the AFLW ranks.
“Played a bit of forward this year, and been taught so much,” she said.
“I was really happy with myself that I became consistent and was able to be more versatile to play forward and mid.”
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