THEY say that you are your own harshest critic, and that could not be more true of young gun India Rasheed. The promising top 10 talent has long caught the eye of fans and recruiters alike, with Rasheed’s snap goal in the 2022 SANFLW Grand Final sending her viral around the footballing community. Considering the support she received, exactly what did she think of it?

“For me it wasn’t that special of a goal, just because that’s just what I’ve been taught to do,” Rasheed said. “For everyone else they thought it was pretty good, so I was just lucky enough that everyone thinks it was pretty cool.

“All the views, probably 500,000 my mum, 500,000 my dad, that’s what I reckon. “They’ve replayed it so many times. “That snap is probably not my favourite because it’s just a bit overhyped.”

The humble nature of Rasheed has carried through her junior career, with the talented Sturt prospect having starred against senior opponents, transitioning from damaging forward, into versatile forward-midfielder. Her start to football was similar to many others in the modern game, always having a passion for the sport.

“I’ve pretty much played since as soon as I could play a sport,” Rasheed said heading into the 2024 season. “I played Auskick obviously, and then just played school football with the boys and then club football with the boys. “I started at Payneham, so I played with the Payneham boys all the way up until Under 14s or 15s where I switched to girls to play with Glenunga.

“Then I pretty much played with Glenunga for two years, then came out to Sturt at the end of 2021 for the preseason and now I’m just here done Sturt for a few years and state football in my third year in the 18s as well.”

The Rasheed name has become more synonymous with tennis rather than football, even though her father Roger also played in the SANFLW. However the famous coach has taught a myriad of international tennis stars including current Australia Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, and Top 10 talent Grigor Dimitrov.

All that considered, did the younger Rasheed ever look to join those names and try and make it on the WTA Tour?

“I played a lot when I was younger,” she said. “I love tennis because I’ve just been raised lucky enough in the inner areas of the tennis world when I was younger, and obviously he coached so I spent a little bit of time travelling with him.

“I probably did want to play tennis for a while, but I always knew footy was my main sport. “I played up until I was about 12 or something and then just didn’t like it a few little things happened where I wasn’t that motivated to play anymore tennis, so I thought I’d just play footy instead. “But I really love tennis, I’m a massive tennis fan, I watch it a lot, always go to the Australian Open and I do love tennis.”

However her father is not her only sporting rolemodel, with her mum’s brother-in-law being Collingwood premiership player Tyson Goldsack. The Magpies defender returned to South Australia to play for Port Adelaide and moved into coaching with the Power. Naturally, Rasheed is a Port Adelaide supporter, having grown up watching Robbie Gray and Chad Wingard, who she tries to mirror with her forward craft. There is a current Port player who tops the list, though.

“Probably Travis Boak,” Rasheed said of who she looks up to the most. “He’s been a family friend since I was really young, and he’s obviously the one since I started watching football till now, a lot of the others have retired. “But he’s someone that I’m quite close with, and he’s just so great off the field and on the field, super professional and such a good player. “I definitely look up to him the most.”

While there have been plenty of highs in her football career, Rasheed has also had frustrating lows, with a hip injury ruling her out of some bottom-age action including the Under 17 Futures match. She describes it as “just an overuse thing” which saw her have a delayed start to the 2023 season.

” It’s a common thing that kids get that run or kick a lot, so I just got that from there and didn’t let it settle,” Rasheed said “Stupidly I kept training with it and it just got to a point where it was a really, really painful so I kept working through that and it got to a point where last year I was just like ‘well I’m just going to have to play through the pain’ or I won’t play at all.

“So I did that, and then I spent a fair bit of time in the off-season trying to get it right. “I didn’t run or kick for a while because the physio told me not to so I could get it completely better. “It’s not fully better, but I think it’s getting a lot better. “I’ve started doing pilates and all these things, and I think it’s slowly fixing it.”

Still managing it throughout her top-age season, Rasheed put together a strong year to remain in top five contention, coming off another All-Australian nod following her bottom-age state MVP at the national championships.

When it comes to the strengths in her game, Rasheed has a clear weapon, and it comes in the form of her left boot.

“Definitely my kick, I think that’s probably the obvious strength of mine,” Rasheed said. “I think I’m pretty clean with my hands, handballs, I can see the space to handball into a little bit better. “I feel like my groundballs in-game are pretty clean.

“I think not IQ, but I guess I can see things on the field and putting the ball into the space where I want to the forward to run into rather than just always kicking on their head. “I feel like I can see the game in a good way that allows me to be creative and all those kinds of things, I would say mainly my skillset is just kicking and all the basic fundamentals I’m pretty good at.”

Heading into the 2024 SANFLW season, Rasheed wanted to improve her tackling. By the end of the 12 games she played, the Sturt top-ager had laid 6.1 per game to go with her averages of 24.3 disposals, 5.3 marks, 4.8 clearances, 5.1 inside 50s and 11 goals in 12 games.

At the National Championships, Rasheed continued that form to finish with 22.3 disposals, 4.3 marks, 4.3 tackles, 3.0 clearances 3.7 inside 50s and three goals. Not to mention her second successive All-Australian blazer.

Continuing to work on her contested marking and opposite foot, Rasheed remains a star prospect heading into the draft in 11 days time. Her goals coming into the year was to take everything as it came and not look too far ahead.

“I try not to be super specific just because I know that little things can take you off the path of it,” Rasheed said. “Just keep building my fitness, I do feel like it is a strength of mine in games, but just make sure it keeps getting better. “I just want to make sure that I can stay positive in my mind, because in games if I don’t have a good quarter I let it get into my head, those types of things.

“So just trying to stay in the moment, not think too far ahead and think about the end of the game when it’s the first quarter and those types of things. “Probably just play and be healthy, just make sure we play as many games as we can, so missing two games is enough to be just annoying. “Making sure I’m healthy and play my best footy, just play with freedom and try not to be too stressed about the draft.”

Essentially, Rasheed is a player who just loves her football and the South Australian provided an insight into why.

“I had a lot of family connections that I used to love watching because I got to see my family and friends play and all those types of things, but it was just the way I just loved kicking, but not soccer,” Rasheed said. “I could never play soccer, I would always get injured trying to play soccer because I always need to use my hands in some form.

“But I love the creativity of it, all the different elements of it, you can have different strengths and you can still be good at the game if you play completely differently. “I just loved it, I always had a football in my hands since I was little, so I always knew I was going to play because I was never going to be without a football. “There was always a football somewhere, I was just a big sports fan, I just loved watching all the games.”

As for the biggest influence on her individual career, Rasheed did not have to look too far.

“My dad,” she said. “Just because he loves his sport, and that’s his passion, sport. “Whether he implements his tennis coaching and turns it into a way to coach me in football, I’ve just always found his stuff really helpful. “We’ve been kicking the football at the park since I was as young as I could.”