SOUTH Fremantle’s Tahleah Mulder was running around in the Perth Football League for Piara Waters 12 months ago, and now the speedy midfielder/forward will don the purple after being selected by Fremantle with pick three in the AFLW Supplementary Draft. Speaking in the wake of her selection. Mulder said it was a “surreal feeling” that was yet to sink in, but she was looking forward to getting started.

Though Mulder said she was aware the Dockers were going to take her in the draft, she was unsure of what selection and admitted it was “definitely a surprise” to be picked up so early.

“It was insane, it feels such a a such a surreal feeling,” Mulder said. “I feel it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but once we start training it definitely will so I’m super excited for that.”

The journey from local football to the elite level has been rapid for the 21-year-old who took to the WAFL Women’s like a duck to water, and after just four games, got the call up via the Supplementary Draft.

“I actually grew up playing soccer and then transitioned to footy about four years ago because I started playing in 2019,” Mulder said. “Just my local community club that were putting in a girls team.

“Two of my friends asked me to come down and I gave it a go and ended up loving it there, and then quit all my soccer and stuck with footy ever since. Just last year I finally come into the WAFL so played four games at WAFL level and now I’m at Freo.”

Dockers fans might have South Fremantle captain Lauren Vecchio to thank for Mulder’s identification, with the Bulldogs skipper alerting the coaching staff to the then 20-year-old’s talent at the level. Coming down to see for themselves, they liked what they saw, and signed up Mulder for her first WAFL Women’s season in 2023.

“They came down to a few of my games last year,” Mulder said. “We actually had some other girls from South Freo playing for my community club as well. The coach was just watching he came to me after one of the games and invited me down to the club. Went down there for preseason and then stuck with them since.”

Mulder said she worked hard over the off-season to ensure she was ready for the rigours of WAFL Women’s level, admitting it was “definitely a bit of a change” in terms of its speed and bigger bodies.

“It was much quicker, much more physical but I think I transitioned pretty well,” she said. “I gave myself a really long preseason, and just took every opportunity that I could to prepare myself the best I could so that I was able to transition into that level of play right away.”

The Fremantle recruit has line-breaking speed and second and third efforts which she prides herself on, and draws similar comparisons to Dockers skipper Hayley Miller.

“Just being able to burst away from stoppages and breaking lines, and then also second efforts,” Mulder said. I like to pride myself on that, not just doing one thing and giving it away, but looking at the next thing.

“I feel like we (Mulder and Miller) have quite a similar style of player, just our burst and acceleration. I definitely look up to her and she also has great leadership qualities as well and is a really awesome person.”

Mulder is working on building up her proficiency on her non-preferred left side of her body, with the midfield being her ideal role after also spending time down forward.

“I feel more natural in there, but definitely open to playing anywhere,” Mulder said. “I play quite an attacking style of play I’d say, so I love going up forward and trying to kick some goals.”

Crediting her coaches and teammates at every level, Mulder said she appreciated all the help and support they had provided to her over the last few years, to achieve her dream of reaching the AFLW hat had “definitely come about more recently”.

“When I started footy it (playing AFLW) was always in the back of my mind, I just never really thought that I was capable of reaching that level,” Mulder said. Definitely came about the last couple of years that I’ve realised it was a possibility. Last year especially having a good season at Amateur level pushed me to go to play WAFL and give that a go.

“I didn’t think I would be at AFL level standard already. I gave myself a few goals along the way, the first one was playing WAFL and being able to play it consistently and I was able to achieve that, and that’s when I really saw that I could play at the AFLW level. Then I got picked up which is really awesome.”

Unsure of her balance between playing WAFL Women’s and just focusing on training with the Dockers, Mulder said she had re-adjusted her goals for 2023 after the meteoric rise to the top level.

“Obviously playing a game, I’d love to make my debut,” she said. “Then I think once I’ve achieved that, just playing good, consistent footy. I don’t want to be someone who’s dropping in and out of the side, I want to be a key player and I want to be there all the time. That’s definitely a big goal that I’ll try and set myself up as well as I can to achieve that.”