DESPITE representing Queensland at the AFLW Under 19 Championships, being a Southport Sharks junior, playing for Bond University in the QAFLW grand final and being a part of the SUNS Academy program, Giselle Davies believes she has plenty more development to come throughout her football journey.

Davies opened up firstly what got her into playing football, reflecting on her journey and challenges faced along the way.

“I was definitely one of those people that just played all sports including swimming, athletics, touch, netball, I did a bit of this and that,” Davies said. “My friend, Annise (Annise Bradfield), who’s inactive on the AFLW list for the Suns, we were in the same class in school and she said, “come down to training, I think you’d like it, it will definitely be fun.” I came down to training with her at Southport Sharks and I just fell in love with the sport to be honest. Annise kept begging me to come for so long. She’s like “You’ll like it, you’ll like it.

“I responded with “No, I don’t know even know what AFL is, I’ve never even watched a game in my life.” I just went down there, and it was so good. I just knew straight away, I knew I wanted to play it. I’m glad she begged me to come to training, otherwise I don’t think I’d be playing AFL in the first place.

“I feel like it’s just been such a good progression since I started playing footy and being involved in heaps of different teams. When you get older, you start playing in different squads and you meet most of the same girls that follow through the pathways, it’s just been great. Just the experience, in so many different teams in different pathways, it’s great.

“To be able to travel at such a young age and travel to different states and meet girls that you don’t usually play with. You just create friendships that you wouldn’t really anywhere else. Honestly, when I started playing, I didn’t even think about it of making it this far. You slowly get into the system and as you start and the years go on and you get older, you think ‘I know this is something that I can actually do.’ On draft night, it just seemed so surreal. It’s been a great year. Since I started footy a few years ago, it’s been a journey since then. I’ve just loved everything apart of it.

“For most people, at the age of 18, where you’re going through year 12, it’s such a big year where a lot of people, especially a lot of girls, stopped playing because people want to focus on working or school. Footy sometimes isn’t a priority for everyone. For a year like year 12, it can be tough and there’s just too many things going on.

“There are definitely times where you’re in your final showing and you have to go to school, then go to training and there’s so many things going on. It obviously shows in the end, things do pay off but in times when you’re in Grade/Year 12, it’s a lot of pressure and you feel like there’s so much going on, it can be tough for people. It’s important to have a balance and you learn as you go and it’s something I’m definitely still learning. It’s just that balance between footy and everything else that’s going on in your life, it’s really important to find.”

QAFLW experience, getting drafted and flourishing in the AFL Women’s environment

Having a successful QAFLW campaign with Bond University and apart of the development team with the Gold Coast Suns, Davies shares her experiences of the QAFLW competition, what it meant to get drafted and sharing her thoughts on the Sun’s on the rise and being apart of the team in season 2022.

“It was definitely different,” she said. “When I went from playing at Sharks, in Under 17’s, I played division one at the same time, I played both under 17’s and division one the year before. Going to Bond University, it was a very different environment. It was a lot more professional; everyone is a lot older; the teams are more established, and it’s very well set up. I feel it was a bit different for me, I was driving 35-40 minutes by myself to training a few times a week, rather than 10 minutes to Sharks. It was a bit of a jump and I felt like I was a lot more dependent when I was playing at Bond. But it was great, it’s so good. There are so many teams. In the under 17’s competition we were playing in, there were possibly only four teams that would play over and over and over, the season and just having a different person to verse a different opponent every week and not having to triple up to university, it was great exposure.

“It was so weird. I never knew before, but I don’t know what pick or anything. When my name was called out, it was like obviously, they had organised the whole Suns team to come out and be there. I felt like for everyone to be there when my name got called out, all my family there, it was so crazy, so crazy and everything came after it as well. It was a crazy few days. You get to training the next day and you’re apart of the team, your name goes up on the locker, you have your number, you get your kit, and you can get started like straight into it. It was good, it was fun.

“It’s been great, everything’s so structure, you know what you’re doing, 10 weeks before it’s happening and you know what you’re doing, three months before it’s happening. It’s like an elite high performing environment and the facilities we have access to, the coaches and staff, treatments and massages, everything.”

 “You get so looked after so well. The vibes around the group have been good. A lot of the girls, like we’re quite a young team. I’ve played with quite a few of them, obviously Bond and programs the years before when we were a bit younger, I didn’t really know them quite well back then. I feel there’s quite a young team dynamic in the team and it’s really easy to get on and take and teach a few friends who is on the same team as you. You learn to become close because you see them, for example, five times a week sometimes. You definitely spend a lot of time with the older ones, or the older girls in the team and they are supportive and always feeding to you like ‘this is what you can do, this is what you can do.’ Everyone’s just awesome.

“I feel like this year, I knew it was going to be my development year. Obviously, I want to debut, and I want to play a few games. I feel like this season, there’s a lot of things that you want to work on and learn and progress and that doesn’t really show this year. Being in this environment, I want to know what’s coming and what I can work towards in the next few years. It’s a real eye opener. I’ve definitely been trying to do everything I can to do each week. When my time is, hopefully I can just put my best foot forward.”

Life outside of footy

Davies opened up what life is like off the field, her pre-game rituals and what she enjoyed doing in her spare time.

“I’m doing a Bachelor of Education. I’m just about to start this year coming but I’m about to do year two this year coming, in March. I’ve already done one year. I’m going to be doing that the new few years and last year when I left school in 2020. Last year I was doing a bit of labouring in the house, doing a bit of cleaning at a school in the mornings. Now, I’m doing a bit of office work to get off my feet because I was doing so much manual labor last year. I’ve been studying really. It’s a good course too. A few of the girls in the team are doing, we’re all in the exact same class when we have been. Some reason, some of the girls started the course at the same time so we definitely collab on the assignments a little bit. It It’s good to have people going through and doing the same thing. When you’re studying and training, it’s nice to have people who are they haven’t done the same amount as you, you don’t have to feel like you’re the only one behind. We help each other, it’s good, we have a good little group.

“I don’t really have any rituals. I like to have an easy morning, not like stress. I used to follow a plan and have everything timed out and be really structured. I like to take the day easy and pretend like I’m not even playing I’ve got my uniform on or try to do a lot of big things. I like to enjoy the morning and not overthink because, for example playing in the night, being distracted all day is a waste of energy and do things that are easy. I like to go to the beach or go for a way and things like that.

“I feel like I’m always training, studying or working. When I’m not doing those certain things, I like to just chill out and not do too much. Sometimes, if you need to lay down, watch a movie or just go to the beach, nothing crazy. When you’re always doing things, downtime or not too busy, I like to full have relaxing time. If you don’t have it, you soon find out once you start to burn out a little bit. It’s important to relax.”

Toughest opponents, staying motivated, growing as a player in the AFLW and siblings

Davies shared the toughest opponents she’s come up against, what the sport of football means to her, how the AFLW competition has shaped as a player and the type of role models that have helped her along her journey.

“We obviously had a pretty good season last year Bond. We were undefeated, apart from losing to Queensland Uni, in the grand final. In one of the other semifinals, but they were definitely a really good team last year for sure. People are applying and more people are converting to the sport. I feel the pool of athletes that have come into the sport, you can tell that the comp each year is just getting better and better, the numbers are insane. They’ve been having a QUAFL team and then there’s the development, then division one and division two. There’s just so many opportunities to play now which is great.

“I love my Pinterest and I have so many quotes and can’t think of one because I have a whole board of quotes on my Pinterest. I love the quote “If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.

“The meaning of footy is a place where you can go and it’s such a relief where you can interact with people, and you meet people that you never would have thought you would generally get on with. You meet people constantly and develop those relationships that are so strong, and I feel like it’s something that brings everyone together. It’s a great thing when you see the crowds and it’s such a united thing.

“Some of the things that we learn, some of the guidance the girls would give me, you really have got to work hard and if you don’t indefinitely should that, you want to show the team what you’ve got. The veterans in the team and putting that into my game, someone like Jamie Stanton, she was one of my teachers at school and now she’s one of my teammates, that’s something very special for me, because I look up to her a lot. She’s been of the players and been in the comp since the beginning. To see the things she does, learning off from her, it’s good to have those types of role models in your team.

“I have three sisters actually, all of them play footy. You don’t have to ask them ‘do you want to come kick the footy?’ We just go all the time and it’s like you have three extra kicking buddies that live in the same house as you. When we get to play together, when we have the opportunity to reenact playing the same game. It’s really special and it’s so much fun as well.

“I’ve definitely watched a lot of documentaries because I didn’t really grow up, watch anything. I’ve been reading books and reading legacies. I like the All-Blacks book that I’m ready right now and I’ve been watching the Michael Jordan, The Last Dance documentary. The things that you can learn and learn from them. I love reaching things like that and watching documentaries on courageous players, it’s so interesting to me.

Lastly, Davies shared her wisdom to any upcoming footballers wanting to improve their game.

“If I could tell myself, if you put in the work, you just have to trust the process and trust in yourself. What you’re doing and believe that what you’re working for, you can achieve it. If you stick with it, it will happen. Finding that balance is so important because if it’s everything, or if it doesn’t really have priority, you’re not really getting along and putting as much energy into it. The more you put in, the more rewards you’re going to get.”