LIKE much of Australia over the last month, Collingwood AFLW captain Brianna Davey has certainly been swept up in the excitement of the Matildas’ run at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

A former Matilda herself, Davey said that she loved watching her friends and ex-teammates go on their run to ultimately finish fourth at the tournament.

“I absolutely loved watching them,” she said. “I think I just feel super proud of what they have been able to achieve. Some of those girls I saw more than I saw my own family when I was playing, so it’s sort of a weird feeling. Feels really nostalgic to me as well because I grew up with a lot of them, but I’m just so proud and I’ve absolutely loved watching them.”

Despite the momentous achievement the Matildas earned, Davey said that she did not feel jealous at all about no longer being a part of the team.

“I think there’s no regret in my decision to come across to AFL,” Davey said. “I think I ultimately chose it because of the enjoyment and how much I absolutely adore the sport, and I reflect on my soccer career and I really had some awesome times doing that, but at the end of the day I chose what I enjoyed more and it’s AFL and no regret in the choice, but I do love watching the World Cup and more miss the girls rather than miss the sport.”

Closer to home, Davey is excited to be about to be back out on the football field, after a tough 2022 saw her miss all bar one game due to an ACL injury.

“By the time Round 1 comes along it would have been a year and a half since I’ve stepped foot on the ground so I’m super pumped” she said.

“I think it’ll be a little bit emotional too but I’m just excited and I think the best thing about footy is being able to run out with your mates, so I’m really pumped to be able to do that.”

She admitted that the last year has certainly been a tough one for her, particularly with the AFLW having two seasons in the 2022 calendar year which forced Davey to miss more games than most players have to with an ACL injury.

“I think it feels like it’s been a lot longer than it has, I think because of the two seasons put close together,” she said. “But I think for me it was just trying to contribute in whatever way I could, and that was in an off field role and I was able to sort of grow and learn in different ways than I would have if I was playing. So I’ll take the positives from it, but it was definitely challenging at times but I also took some good things out of it as well.”

Many people did not give Davey’s Magpies too much of a chance last season with two of their most important players (herself and Brittany Bonnici) out for the year with ACL injuries, yet they still made finals.

Davey noted that the team saw that achievement as a huge win despite what critics had been saying.

“I think it gives younger players and even other players opportunities to sort of find their feet,” she said. “Myself and Britta are both midfielders, so it gave some of our younger midfielders and those ones that are aspiring to come through the mids a bit of experience in there as well, and it gave other people opportunities too. So I think there’s lots of positives you can take from it, and I think it’s very positive signs that we’re able to make finals and be really strong contenders regardless of who’s in the team.”