WHILE on-field Isabella Mazzei was as consistent as she could be, injury interruptions meant that her top-age season was not without its frustrations. The Oakleigh Chargers midfielder and Vic Metro representative said she enjoyed the year despite the ups and downs.

“Good consistent year, just wanted to take a step up when I made Metro,” Mazzei said. “I think just balancing school and footy as well was a bit of a challenge, but it was good to meet all the new people and it was good fun.”

Most footballers tend to have on-field injuries that result in setbacks, but for Mazzei, it was a pair of really unlucky illnesses that struck her down at different points and kept her away from the game she loved.

“I got a bit sick during the year, had glandular fever so had to rest me a little bit, and then I had an anaphylactic reaction to an iron infusion, so that took a bit of a toll,” Mazzei said.

“I took a break from the games and a few of the games I dropped off a little bit because I was just recovering but probably shouldn’t have played them looking back now but it was a good learning curve.”

The Oakleigh ball-winner could not me more complimentary of the Chargers’ program and said she could not have got to where she is today without their support.

“Oakleigh’s been the biggest support to me for the past three years,” Mazzei said. “This year we had a lot of girls out for Metro so I think in that little block there, connection maybe got a bit lost, asking a lot of new girls to play.

“The girls are great, great support, the coaches have been such great mentors to all of us, can’t thank them enough. I’ll miss it, it’s been awesome.”

While a natural midfielder given her strengths, Mazzei did get a taste for life as a forward at different points through the Metro campaign, an experience she described as “good fun”.

“I’ve never played forward, I don’t really know the forward craft, so kind of got thrown in there for the Metro games,” she said. “But it was a good opportunity, I just got told to bring my mid qualities into that and just make the most of it. Hopefully I’ll see a bit more time in there.”

Mazzei’s strengths centre around her power and explosiveness out of the contest, as well as her clean hands on the inside. One area she had developed that was coming along nicely was her composure, which alongside some of her fundamentals, was a key focus.

“Still being pretty new to the game, I was a bit rusty, bit rushed,” she said. “So just trying to stay composed, look for the right options, just playing to my strengths a bit more like driving my legs and using my speed.

“My kicking’s come a long way, but just consistently keeping it up to good standard, lowering my eyes inside 50 and probably overhead or contested marking is a big one.”

Should Mazzei land at an AFLW club over the preseason, it would be all about doing everything she could to get up to speed and showing her teammates and coaches how dedicated she is to refining her craft.

“For me I reckon it would be just putting in the extra hours outside,” Mazzei said. “Taking a little bit of time then getting struck straight into it. “Working on my fitness would be the main one moving up to a much higher intensity, faster paced game, getting that stamina and fitness up to the right level, and then just finding my fundamentals for AFL standard.”

DRAFT FEATURES:

New South Wales: Evie Bowie, Frances Walsh, Majella Day, Morgan Stevens, Ashleigh Barlow
Queensland: Zoe Petrides, Summer Browning, Aiyana Pritchard
South Australia: Emily Mableson, Emma Charlton, Ruby Lynch, Layla Vizgaudis
Vic Country: Greea McKeegan, Lily Milner, Eliza Roche, Lacey Nihill
Vic Metro: Bailee Martin, Tayla Olivieri, Maddison Meagher, Brylee Anderson, Grace McIntyre, Alli Allen, Kiara Boyd
Western Australia: Lexi Strachan, Mia Carlshausen