SOUTHERN Saints’ forward Kayla Ripari did not have the most conventional path into footy, but is certainly not letting that hold her back now.

“I’ve been playing now for I think 11 years, 12 years” she said. “I didn’t have the whole parent thing of they played footy so I wanted to play footy, it was more just in primary school kicking the footy with the boys on the oval.

“Then one of my best girlfriends, her dad had started up a team and when he invited me and then when I went on the oval with people that actually loved football I was like ‘ooh, this is really cool, this is for me’.

“I used to be a dancer, and loved the training side of it and rehearsals, but hitting the stage and being under the lights, I was like ‘errr this is creepy, this is not what I like’ so being on the footy field that I can get dirty, and I can just crash packs and I was like ‘yeah this is so much better’.”

From those early days, it was not a whole lot of wins, but a lot of fun out for Ripari at Devon Meadows across three seasons. Then it was off to Cranbourne, where she played in the Under 18s team and some senior women’s footy before crossing to the Saints.

Along the way she also played interleague, as well as TAC Cup (now Coates Talent League) with the Dandenong Stingrays and made the Vic Metro squad in 2015/16.

A Saint since the first year they were in the VFLW, she could have ended up at either Box Hill or Casey but the way the Saints ran things really stood out for Ripari. Although the distance is not ideal for Ripari, she says that it is worth it because she loves the club so much.

However, if some things had gone differently she might not have been the forward she is today.

“For me I grew up I’ve been this height [165cm] since I was about Grade 4, Grade 5,” Ripari said. “I grew up a tall person and when I played with the boys I was that midfield/ruck person, and then as everyone’s grown I’ve become the short arse and so throughout most of my junior career I was the little in/out midfielder, and then coming and being a part of Saints you come up against a lot of quicker and smaller girls.”

“Playing women’s football, 165[cm] isn’t classified as small, it’s classified as mainly mid height, so me going down forward and being a pretty fast forward, it was a bit of a strength rather than me going into the midfield. “Going down forward was a chance to open up the forwardline with my speed.”

Although she has played down in defence a few times, she does not enjoy the pressure that comes with it.

Ripari was one of the lucky ones to be a part of the Southern Saints’ Grand Final side last year, and like many of her other team mates, she has many positive things to say about the day despite the result. She noted that despite the underdog status the team had heading into the finals last year, the team felt blessed to have even made it to the biggest stage of the year.

Despite having never made it to the AFLW, the dream and the ambition to make it there is still there for Ripari.

“As soon as AFL was a thing for females I was like ‘ooh that’d be fun, it’d be cool’ and especially since I was at the age where it was a possibility back in the first year, and did miss out on it and every year since I have missed out on it,” Ripari said.

“But I think you can only try and you can only push yourself to be better and I think for me it’s super exciting seeing people I’ve played with and against be elevated up to that next level and it does show that it’s not out of reach and it’s maybe not been the best suit for me at that time but if it weren’t to happen it wouldn’t be the end of the world for me because I do love this club but I also don’t like being one off the top of anything whether it be football or anything I’ve done in the past.”