TALENTED dual-sport athlete Tessa Davis has reached elite junior levels of both Aussie rules football and cricket, and while the latter won her heart a few years back, the former has returned to be her main focus in 2025. The Glenelg defender has impressed since returning to the SANFLW this season, making her Bays’ League debut and holding her place as a key member of the back five.

We spoke to Davis at the south Australian Preseason Testing Day about her football journey, who she looks up to and what goals she sets for herself.

Q: Tessa, tell us a bit about your footy journey?

TD: “I started pretty young. I did Auskick as a little kid and then I started playing Under 8 boys, so I’ve played my whole life really. I just played through the year levels essentially and went into the girls footy at Under 12s. I also had cricket so I had to balance that, I actually ran two years ago I took time off footy to focus on cricket a bit more because I was in the state squads with cricket as well. So took some time off for that and then came back to footy. But I did my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in August 2023 so basically my first game back was the Under 17s carnival in September last year.”

Q: In terms of your game itself, how would you describe yourself as a player?

TD: “I play off half-back, I’m quite aggressive defender, lot of intercepting, it’s a big part of how I like to play. I like to try and retrieve the ball and then use my kick to distribute from half-back.”

Q: What do you see as some of your strengths?

TD: “I’d say my ability to read the ball is definitely one of my strengths. I think my kicking’s also quite good just because I’ve played for a while so I learnt from quite young how to kick. I’d say they’re my two main strengths.”

Q: In terms of improvements, what are you focusing on?

TD: “I’d say there’s a few. I think for me it’s more so my physical attributes, so stuff like my endurance, I want to get a bit quicker, little bit more explosive. But that also comes with keep continuing to rehab from my knee, get back to where I was. I haven’t actually ever done a full preseason as well, so having this full preseason this year has been really great so I feel like I’ll be able to make strides.”

Q: Is there a player you’ve looked up at the top level?

TD: “There’s a few, I’m a Richmond supporter so I’m mainly going to pull from the Richmond team. Person I like to watch is Nick Vlaustin off half-back. He’s not a key defender, he’s not a small defender, he’s sort of a hybrid. He’s very good at reading the ball and attacking off half-back as well.”

Q: You said you’re a Richmond supporter, is that for both men’s and women’s?

TD: “Yeah I always followed the men’s a little bit closer, but lately I’ve also been watching a lot of the women’s. I probably watch more of the SA teams of the women’s just because you know some of the players from playing with them at some stage.”

Q: Who’s had the most influence on your individual career?

TD: “Probably my dad. He was the one who taught me to kick, he got me into the game really young. From quite a young age we would just go out and kick the footy for as long as I wanted to and he would always say ‘yes’. He’d never turn me down, which is great.”

Q: What goals do you set for yourself this year?

TD: “I’d like to play most of the year in League and go from there. My main goal would be to get drafted, but I understand there’s a long way to go to do that. I think the best way to start is to try and play as consistently as I can at league.”