GEELONG defender Chantel Emonson has had quite the shift in her career in recent seasons, moving from Melbourne down the highway to Geelong, which saw her go from one of the least experienced at the Dees to one of the most experienced at the Cats.

“I guess it was a huge change” she said. “Coming from Melbourne. I wasn’t really one of the older ones, and then when I came to Geelong I was definitely in that older category, but it’s been a great experience. I think I’ve been able to not only help others learn but also learn more about myself as well.”

Like many AFLW players her age, Emonson started playing with the boys as a kid, but was lost to the sport once she got too old to play in a mixed competition. She then re-found the sport at age 25, played VFLW with Casey and then got picked up by the Dees in the AFLW, but did not go through the draft, instead picked up as Category B rookie coming from cricket.

Emonson still speaks fondly of her time at the Dees.

“It was a great experience for me coming back into playing AFLW and I think I learned a lot both on and off the field which enabled me to develop my skills and provided me with opportunities probably that I didn’t even think were available to me when I first started,” she said. “It was a great experience to be able to do that, and I’ll be forever grateful for being able to start my AFLW career there”

She ultimately moved to Geelong for a change in environment and because of how exciting Geelong’s list was.

“I was looking for a change of environment, just what was going to work best for me moving forward, and then I think Geelong had an exciting list,” Emonson said. “Obviously we’re still developing in Season 6 this year, but as you can probably see how we’ve been playing in Season 7 so far, it’s an exciting young group and I think it’s evident by what we’ve been able to do so far, but obviously we’ve still got so much more improvement to go which is super exciting as well.”

Emonson has loved her time down at the Cattery so far.

“It’s been a great experience. Geelong is a fantastic club and it’s a great group of girls,” she said. There’s a lot of young girls but there’s also a balance as well, which is great but as you can see by the success in the men’s program and also how I guess you can put it it’s a one club mantra, which is awesome where girls feel very included within the club, but yeah it’s just a great place to be. I love being out of Melbourne, so yeah it’s awesome.”

Emonson credits Geelong’s significant improvement in Season 7 to a couple of things. She says it is a combination of being able to play two seasons in one year, and having everyone able to play their role. Now the Cats are preparing to play a huge elimination final against North Melbourne to see just how far they can go in Season 7.