THE 10th AFL Women’s season is set to play out in 2025, and the competition has come a long way since its first round of matches about eight years ago to the date.

As a way to celebrate the milestone, Rookie Me Central will be catching up with some of the pioneers of the early AFLW era to reflect on their careers and see what they have been up to since retirement.

In the next article of the series, it is time to catch up with former Demons and Blues midfielder Elise O’Dea.

Elise O’Dea was known during her career for the dedication she held for football and her total dominance in the midfield.

When thinking back to the lead-up to the first round of AFLW games, O’Dea said it was “really difficult” due to the structured and intense nature of their preseason training.

“Preseason went to another level compared to the VFL days… No one really knew what to expect, you didn’t know what the other teams were going to be like so it was a lot of unknowns. All I can remember is working really hard in that off-season with Melbourne. We trained really hard,” she said.

In 2016, O’Dea was Melbourne Football Club’s first ever selection in the inaugural AFLW draft. She made her debut for the club in 2017 as one of the team’s vice-captains and had a standout season straight off the bat, averaging 19 disposals per game. She was also nominated by her teammates for the AFL Players’ Most Valuable Player Award and earned a listing in the 2017-18 All-Australian teams.

O’Dea described her experience being drafted to Melbourne as a “dream come true” because of the love she held for the club as a young girl.

“Getting to wear the jumper I used to wear in the backyard as a kid pretending to be some of the players that I adored and looked up to, it was really quite amazing to then go and play at that club,” she said.

In her four years with the Demons, O’Dea averaged 18 disposals per game and did not miss a single match for her side. She was eventually named co-captain in 2019 for what would end up being her final season with Melbourne.

“It was an honour and it was a privilege to lead those girls. They were such a great group of people and I had magnificent support around me so it was good,” O’Dea said.

After the Covid pandemic caused a shutdown of the 2020 AFLW season, O’Dea spoke of her feelings towards the game after a “full-on” year.

“It sort of felt weird playing in a time when the world was in a global pandemic you know? There were people dying and losing their jobs and I felt weird playing anyway, so I was a bit relieved when they called it,” she said.

“Then I had some discussions, mainly more with family, about what I was really wanting to do. “I had been playing football since I was 13 at the highest level I could play at…So my body was tired, my mind was a bit tired and I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to keep playing.”

After taking some time off to think about her AFLW future, O’Dea was traded to the Carlton Football Club at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Her decision to be traded was one that many would have described as shocking at the time. However, she stated that the move was “the best decision” she ever made.

“I know you don’t want to walk all over the club you grew up with but the people I met at Carlton and the way I approached it, whilst I wasn’t performing as well as I was while I was at Melbourne, I definitely think I got a lot more out of my time at Carlton. It’s not because of Melbourne, it’s just my mindset and where I was in my life,” O’Dea said.

In 2022, O’Dea was co-captain alongside her friend Darcy Vescio and played every single game of that season for her club. At the end of the 2022 AFLW season, O’Dea announced her retirement from the sport.

O’Dea described her life after football as “pretty full” and said that her decision to leave football was so she could focus on building a career outside of football.

“I wanted to leave the game when my head was in a good place and when my body was in a good place… I wanted to exercise for fun, see my family more often than not and hang with friends and travel and go to music gigs and drink and eat, and not be worried about skin folds or missing a session. I just wanted to do all the things that you can do when you’re thirty outside of footy,” she said.

Looking back on such a successful career as one of the pioneers of AFLW, O’Dea says that she “doesn’t have any regrets”.

“I know that I gave it everything and I can put my head on the pillow at night and fall asleep pretty easily. In terms of energy and love and passion and effort, I gave it all.”