QUEENSLAND top-ager Kaiya Hides enjoys the open space and camaraderie on the football field, with the Maroochydore prospect one of a number of Maroons impressing during the national carnival. At the 2024 AFLW Under 18 Championships, Hides is currently averaging 15.5 disposals, 3.0 marks and 3.0 inside 50s, providing plenty of run and carry on the outside.
Ahead of her state’s final clash of the carnival with Western Australia on Saturday, we throwback to her interview at the start of the preseason where she spoke about the reason for choosing football, the influence her coaches have had, and her goals for 2024.
Q: Kaiya tell us about your footy journey?
KH: “I started playing in Year 6 just for school and then my friend’s dad coached at Noosa Tigers and he said that I should come play for fun. Then I ended up loving it and just kept playing it and here I am.”
Q: Did you play any other sports playing up?
KH: “I did do track and field and I only stopped doing that last year, just because it overlapped with footy.”
Q: What made you choose footy over track and field?
KH: “Because I like doing things with a team. You push yourself when you’re with your teammates and when you perform individually at track and field, it’s hard to be able to exceed your goals. I just liked playing as a team.”
Q: Do you go for the Lions?
KH: “Yeah I do.”
Q: Obviously great having Nat (Grider) and ‘Zilks’ (Emma Zielke) as coaches, are they amongst the mentors who have helped you along the way?
KH: “Having Zilks as my head coach last year made me realise that this is actually something that I want to do as a future. Having Belle (Dawes) and Nat around just pushing you at every training session made me really love the sport more.”
Q: You missed out on the Queensland team last year, tell me how you bounced back from that to play a high level and now enter your top-age season and try to fire again?
KH: “I was a little bit disappointed that I didn’t miss the team but that just made me want to have more fire to get selected again this year. I was just saying to myself ‘I need to push myself harder and be better to be an option for selection this year.”
Q: What kind of improvements have you made to make the next step?
KH: “Just being consistent with my running and gym, bringing the vibe up at training and not just half-arsed at everything.”
Q: What are you good at on the field nad what are you still looking to work on?
KH: “Ground balls and probably running is my strengths, and then things need to work on would probably be my connections, connecting with the girls on the field. Working as a team instead of individual stuff.”
Q: Do you have any sort of goals set up for the year?
KH: Probably just to get fitter and then I was saying this with one of my mates, he was like choose an AFLW player that you aspire to be like and every time you train, think ‘what would this person be doing now?’ So when I train I think I need to train like Jade Ellenger, I need to do this like Jade.”
Q: Have you met her yet?
KH: “Yeah I have, she presented my guernsey for Academy in the past.”
Q: In terms of hoping to be drafted, are you pretty settled and want to stay in Queensland and Brisbane or have you thought about travel?
KH: “I have thought about travel just because I do want to leave the coast but I would prefer to be selected to the Lions because it’s my home, I’m comfortable with the girls.”
Q: Have you graduated school yet?
KH: “I graduated last year.”
Q: Do you think you got a bit of an advantage now that you can focus most of your energy on footy?
KH: “Yeah I think I do, because last year when I was in Year 12, I was juggling school and training and driving, but this year I can knuckle down and really concentrate on what I want.”
Q: Lastly in terms of your role on the field, where do you think you’re going to be playing and where woudl you like to play?
KH: “Last year I got played along the wing. This year I did ask to get to play along the wing but Zilks said she will shuffle me around the field just to see where my strengths are, but I’d love to play wing mostly.”
