GLENELG utility Madisyn Freeman has not lost the burning desire to compete at the elite level. The 21-year-old has had quite the journey over the years, putting in the work to compete at both South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Women’s level, as well as the AFL Women’s Under 18 Championships for South Australia. Now after settling into Adelaide after high school, Freeman is focused on making the jump to the AFL Women’s.

“For myself the hope is to get picked up in that mid-season draft (Overage Draft) they’re talking about in February,” Freeman said. “That’s the goal, but obviously just keep working, try and be the best player I can be for my player and my team.”

Freeman originally hails from Mount Gambier in the far east corner of the state, and throughout her teen years, the Glenelg youngster made the 10-hour return trip to play in the top state league. Relocating to the big smoke once completing high school, her week is a little less complicated.

“I’m originally from Mount Gambier, I never really played footy there, I moved up to Adelaide three years ago but I was traveling backwards and forwards from Mount Gambier playing with Glenelg for three or four years,” Freeman said. “Then I made the move to Adelaide after finishing high school and I’ve been with Glenelg ever since.”

“It’s definitely a lot easier getting rid of the five-hour travel time. It’s a 10-hour round trip so it certainly makes it a lot easier. You just settle with the girls a bit more, get to more events things like that, so it’s definitely a lot easier.”

On-field, Freeman has played a variety of roles, able to plug and play in any third of the ground. Though midfield is her go-to option if given the choice, the rising talent said she is looking to be playing more behind the ball in 2023.

“I kind of play everywhere at the moment,” Freeman said. “Normally midfield is my most comfortable, it’s where I’ve always been playing, but actually trying out backline this year because I can read the ball pretty well so that’s something I’m very excited about. I think it’s something I can really excel at and I’m looking forward to playing there.”

Looking up to players such as Scott Pendlebury for their work in traffic and reading the ball despite not having explosive speed, Freeman loves watching sport and focusing on key traits of successful players. From there, she looks to “mimic” those traits in her own game to become the best possible player.

“I love watching sport in general, but definitely it doesn’t matter what sport, I’ll try and pick out those traits even if be NFL, lacrosse, literally just any sport to try and pick out those traits in a player and mimic a few of those things,” Freeman said. “A lot of players across multiple different sports have those attributes.”

Describing herself as a “pretty agile” player who can read the ball well, she is not afraid to win the hardball, though prefers to use her run on the outside to break the lines. Aside from personally wanting to land on an AFL Women’s list, Freeman wants to taste premiership success with the Bays for the second time in three seasons.

“As far as the team goes we were so close last year to making that grand final so with a few new coaches and a lot of new coaches, being able to go one step further and get there and win the flag will be really nice,” Freeman said. “But just the development on and off the field so far for the girls has been really good over the off-season.”

Glenelg kick-starts its season on Saturday, February 18 by traveling to Hisense Stadium to take on a hungry West Adelaide outfit from 12pm.