GEELONG VFL Women’s best and fairest winner Lily Jordan did not let the disappointment of missing out on reaching the top level in her draft year affect her on-field in 2024.

The former GWV Rebels small forward chose to head down the coast to play for the Cats and focus purely on senior football in her 19th year. That paid dividends with the over-age draft prospect winning her club’s top award from just 11 games.

“I’ve never won an award like that for footy before,” Jordan told Rookie Me Central. “I was actually supposed to be in Queensland when the best and fairest was on and I said to my dad ‘a few people have said to me they think that I’d be in the running to win it, so I think I should be there’, so I switched my flights around and stayed. But still going into the night, I just didn’t think that it would be me and I hadn’t given it a lot of thought.

“I know some of the other girls had tried to add up the scores as people do, and then we got through the night, it was just so exciting to see the numbers go up and I think I’m pretty lucky. “I had a really good final game and got a little goal in there for the end of the season and that pushed me over the line.”

That final game saw Jordan pick up 25 disposals and lay 13 tackles, while also kicking her first goal of the season. It was her third consecutive performance of double-digit tackles to close out the year. While the Cats had a down year on the ladder, Jordan was a shining light.

The teenager certainly had her doubts moving to an environment where she knew very few people and moved out of the comforts of home, but the reward for effort meant everything to her.

“I can’t describe the feeling that I felt when my name was called out,” Jordan said. “I think I was filled with so much pride and gratitude that I’d had the opportunity to come down here and I think I had to be so proud of myself because I moved out of home. “I was living by myself. I’d been in a new town, new to the club.

“I though it felt like I’d fallen on my face and had to clamber back to my feet through all the injuries. “It’s just a really nice moment to solidify that no, I actually deserve to be here and I put in the work and made all those really tough times on the sidelines okay.”

The decision of playing VFLW only rather than a mix of state league and Coates Talent League was based off both lifestyle and footballing factors.

“I had a few options after the draft,” Jordan said. “I spoke to a few clubs that wanted me to come down and play for them. “After that I needed to start thinking about uni and where I was going to be as well, that balanced part of life.

“I also had the option to go and play Rebels again, but I felt after three years there that I’d just outgrown the people and the place and I needed a fresh start and to reinvent myself somewhere else.

Despite the best and fairest-winning season, Jordan’s year did not come without the natural highs and lows of football.

“I felt a little out of my depth in Round 1. “I think just getting used to being in a new team, a new role, I was playing in the midfield,” Jordan said. “I never really had an opportunity in the midfield at Rebels, so that was super exciting.

“Then I missed the next three rounds because I hurt my back and was dealing wiht nerve pain, which was a challenge in itself, but it just made me hungrier to get back.

“Then I did what I did to be with the team again, I was so excited and happy to be there, and I think from that point, when I was able to string together a few games, and I was working really hard behind the scenes to understand the knowledge aspect of the midfield.”

A successful season on, Jordan has not lost her hunger to reach the elite level, hoping her year could impress clubs ahead of the 2024 AFLW Draft.

“It would mean everything for me (to be drafted),” Jordan said. “It’s always been a dream, and I think being exposed to the clubs and training with the girls this year has really solidified to me that that is absolutely where I want to be. “I love the lifestyle of being an elite athlete and I 100 per cent want to be in those girls’ footprints and I’m going to do everything I can to get there, but it would make me so extremely happy and proud.

“I think more so if I was to get drafted now, I know I’ve put in the work. “I could have been deterred by not being drafted, or what I was told from clubs last year, but I went away and I worked on it and I’m a better player for it. Now I know that I 100 per cent deserve to be in the AFLW.”

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