AFTER being burnt out by her first sporting love, Darebin Falcons ruck Sally Lynch’s sporting career went in a very different direction, and she has not looked back since.

Originally from Albury on the Victoria-New South Wales border, Lynch first plied her trade in soccer, and she got pretty far with her talents in the world game.

“I started when I was about nine, which is kind of late compared to some of the other girls I was playing with,” she said. “I was really awful for a couple of years, actively avoided the ball, was very shy, was very scared.

“But I was lucky enough to get a train-on spot with the local rep team, I guess the coach took a bit of a chance on me really, and then it just kind of clicked for me and within a year I kind of progressed through all the levels.

“I made the NSW team and I was the captain of that team in my first year. I made the Australian All-Star squad and then the Mini Matildas squad of 30, and then played in the NSW country team after that… I guess it came to a point at the end of high school where I sort of had to choose between going to play college in America or staying here and sort of going to uni, and at that point I was pretty burnt out.

When asked what made her fall in love with footy, Lynch said that the burn out from soccer sparked an investigation into other possible sporting pursuits.

“I think I was probably looking for a bit of a change,” she said. “I grew up playing soccer and didn’t really have anything to do with footy. I played a little bit at school but there wasn’t really, that I knew of, a league or anything around where I’m from in Albury.

“One of my friends just said they were starting a league in Albury and said ‘do you want to come down and have a kick?’ and I said ‘sure’. It was super fun, I guess it’s kind of all the things I love about soccer plus being able to tackle and use your body a lot more, so it suited me a little bit more than soccer as well.”

The beginning of Lynch’s footy journey was a little bit “sporadic”. Turning out in a handful of games across a few years in Albury while she was still playing soccer, she then decided to give the VFLW a try.

After being encouraged by Collingwood VFLW coach Chloe McMillan, Lynch came down to one of Collingwood’s VFLW trial days and was successful. She played there for a year, but as it was 2019 which was the year Collingwood won the flag, she struggled to push her way into a very strong side.

Looking for some more opportunities, she decided a non-aligned club like Darebin would be the way to go. She’s been at the Falcons ever since.

Lynch started as a ruck in Albury thanks to her height, but as she moved down to Melbourne and was not among the top two tallest players in the side, she transitioned to becoming a forward. However, after a previous Darebin ruck retired, Lynch was asked to return to the role.

Although she is certainly open to making it to the AFLW if she was given the chance, Lynch is realistic about where she sits.

“I definitely wouldn’t say no if the opportunity arose,” she said. “I think especially with playing in the ruck being definitely undersized it’s a bit tricky to sort of crack in. I’m enjoying VFL, I think I’ve got a lot more development to happen at this level, but I definitely would be open to more opportunities if they arose.”