ANOTHER pioneer of the AFL Women’s competition has retired from the competition, with former Pies skipper turned Saint Steph Chiocci calling time on her AFLW career at the conclusion of St Kilda’s season a few weeks ago.

However, although she was one of the biggest names of the competition in its infancy, the ever humble Chiocci is grateful for those who went before her to get her to that position.

“It’s funny, I’ve always said the word pioneer and trailblazers never been really comfortable for me,” Chiocci confessed.

“Only because I feel like I’m very fortunate to have been able to play AFLW, because there’s so many wonderful people and women that did all the ground work or in the trenches for us years and years before I came along. “I think I know Debbie Lee, Chyloe Kurdis, Peta Searle, Jan Cooper over in the West, these women were the ones that were fighting for our competition and I’m indebted to them really.

“I’m flattered obviously, but it’s never too far from my mind where I’ve come from, and we have a lot of other people to thank.”

Chiocci said it has not truly sunk in yet that she has in fact retired.

“Funny, someone just asked me how retired life was,” Chiocci chuckled.

“I’m in the gym, doing rehab for my knee, and keeping fit, so I don’t think it’s really hit me just yet.

“But I think I’m very lucky in that I’m a teacher, so I’ve got that to look forward to. I’ve got a beautiful partner and lots of things to look forward to. So I’m very content at the moment.”

She also confirmed that her ACL injury and recovery played a part in her decision to retire.  

“Unfortunately I’ve had a few setbacks with it,” Chiocci confirmed.

“I’m no spring chicken, so it’s taken a little bit longer to get the knee right. I’ve still got a fair bit to go with it, and look, I probably would have been right for pre season next year, but when you weigh up my age and everything else that I want to achieve in my life, create a family and travel and things like that, I think it was the right call.”

Although she would have loved to have come back to play at least once more, Chiocci is comfortable with not having made it back from her ACL injury to play a farewell game.

“Oh look, I would have loved to have played absolutely,” Chiocci said.

“It’s funny, I’m not known for being a big gym person, but the last year you sort of had to adapt because of the recovery, and I would love to have had a crack at being out there with my physique now, because it has changed.

“But look, we pushed and the medical team and the high performance team were really supportive and tried to get me back out there and unfortunately it just didn’t happen, and I’m comfortable with that. Obviously everyone wants to play football.

“I’ve always said you’re a long time retired, so I was willing to do whatever it took to get back, but it just became a little bit too hard and not feasible and the decision was pretty easy in the end.”

Chiocci has really seen a lot of growth in female footy over her career, from her teenage days in Melbourne’s northern suburbs to the very top of the sport.

“It’s really hard to put into words and speaking to the girls after the game, I gave them a bit of an insight into to my journey, which is a little bit different to others,” Chiocci said.

“I actually only started at 17 at Diamond Creek, straight into the women’s program, so I wasn’t involved in any of the youth girls competitions, but back then it was just sort of train twice and play.

“We’re very fortunate that we’re able to represent the state and play against the best players across the country, and that was sort of the first glimpse into the talent, but that was it.

“That was every two years, and then I think with the introduction of obviously Auskick, and then you’ve got the pathway now, the youth girls competition into the Coates Talent League, girls are being exposed to footy from a really young age, which is really important, and whether they’re choosing to do football from a young age or other, other sports sort of complement each other.

“I’m finding a lot of the girls that are coming through now have got experience in the gym, they understand what it takes to sort of be the best athlete that they can be. They’re more skilled, they’re faster, they’re stronger already by the time they get to AFLW. And for me, I think that’s been the biggest shift is just the pace of the game. The skill level in, even in year one of AFLW, I think we’re only trained 12 hours a week and only played six games that season.

“So we’re playing more footy, which obviously develops the girls a lot quicker. “It’s still not enough. “If you ask me, I think girls are going to be playing a lot more football, but the game’s certainly gone to another level and the professionalism has gone with that as well.”

When asked what the biggest highlight of her career was, Chiocci pondered for a moment but ultimately named two key moments from the first season of the competition.

“I’ll always remember Collingwood’s first win, against the Bulldogs,” Chiocci said.

“It was Round 4, we weren’t going too well, but we had our first win. But you can’t go past the first ever AFLW game at Ikon Park against Carlton. I will never, ever forget that moment of running onto the ground and hearing the crowd.

“We knew it was going to be a big crowd, but we weren’t sure exactly how many, and then to hear over the PA at quarter time that there’s been a lockout, which we didn’t know what that meant back then, there’s 22 and a half thousand people, if not more, in the stadium. “That’s something I’ll never ever forget, being involved in a small part of our history.”

Although she is now retired, there is certainly plenty of plans Chiocci has up her sleeve.

“I’ll have to take some time off to think about what I really want to do,” Chiocci said.

“There’s an opportunity to work within the club, so just working through that at the moment. “I’m also a teacher, so I go back to work and spend some more time with my colleagues I haven’t seen often in the past eight, nine years. “My partner and I have plans to have a family, so we’re looking in that, but we’re going to be traveling as well.

“All sorts of things in the pipeline, but for the next couple of weeks I’m just going to enjoy my time here with my teammates and then go from there.”