AFTER an eye-catching 2021 NAB League Girls season, Oakleigh Chargers‘ Lily Hart is determined to take her game to another level in 2022. In her debut season after not managing a game in the shortened two-game 2020 season for the Chargers, Hart played all 11 matches for the premiers. She featured in their successful side on Grand Final Day, and averaged 11.5 disposals and 3.2 tackles throughout the season. Though standing at 161cm, Hart provides plenty of impact with her work in transition.

Describing her endurance as her key strength, Hart said her ability to “get the ball out quickly by hand or foot” was another feature of her game. Though she still wanted to improve on her speed out of the contest, driving her legs and aiming to take the game on a bit more.

Hart’s football journey started at Blackburn in 2015, and then was able to crack into the Chargers’ side as a bottom-ager and remain there. Her form saw her step up to the Vic Metro Under 17s side, where she averaged the eight disposals and 4.5 tackles, bringing the same heat she did at NAB League Girls level.

“It was really good,” Hart said of her Metro experience. “I loved the heightened competitiveness. “It was a bit of a shock I guess, but all the girls were really sweet, so it was really nice.”

Her success there culminated in Hart earning an invitation to the Vic Metro hub for the 2022 season. Late last year, Hart joined her Metro teammates on a camp at Tullamarine, where she was able to learn some more tricks and meet some fresh faces.

“That was also really fun,” she said. “I guess just seeing all the facilities at the Essendon Hangar and getting to know the girls a bit more, it was really great.”

It is not hard for Hart to work out her moment of the year. It came in the last game of the NAB League Girls season, when the Chargers were able to lift the premiership cup aloft against Geelong Falcons.

“That was probably the highlight of my year,” Hart said. “All the girls from Chargers are such a close group and it was so great to get the job done.”

Though Hart sustained a sprained ankle last month at the Metro hub, she said it would be good for Round 1 of the season next weekend, and she hoped that a midfield role was on the cards in 2022. As for her goals, she was keeping it all within her control to improve.

“I guess just make the most out of the coming season,” Hart said. “Try and improve on the things I said before and just having a good time.”