DAREBIN Falcons’ skipper Stephanie Simpson has seen a lot of change in her 14 years at the Falcons, but although her teammates have changed quite a bit in that time, her love for the game has not.

From starting when the likes of Daisy Pearce and Aasta O’Connor were her teammates to now, Simpson has certainly seen a lot of change not only at her beloved Falcons but in women’s football more broadly.

“When I first got to the club it was one of the most competitive environments I’ve ever been involved with,” Simpson said. “You had all these players who ended up playing in AFLW so to have them in the one team was just, every training session was just so challenging and kind of, each player motivated themselves to get the best out of each other.

“As women’s footy’s grown, obviously the team kind of got split up, but the program here at Darebin has just got better and better. We’re very lucky to have a training facility like this at La Trobe, and just great coaches and still a great culture that stems from back in the day when all those players were around.”

Footy has been just about a life long love for Simpson.

“I loved footy basically since I was about five years old, you could not get a footy out of my hand,” she said. “I just love the physicality of it, I love playing in a team sport. There’s just nothing like it in terms of other sports.”

Simpson is one of the most experienced members of the Darebin VFLW line-up, but with that came many of the challenges female footballers her age had to face.

Starting with Auskick as a young child, she played juniors up until the age of 14 but then took a seven-year break until returning to the sport at 21 due to the lack of youth girls footy available.

Although originally from Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, her path to the Falcons in Melbourne’s north was certainly a unique one.

After meeting women’s footy legends Pearce and O’Connor at a charity event in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in 2009, and the pair encouraged Simpson to come across to the Falcons and she has not left ever since.

The decision proved to be a fruitful one for Simpson, as she went on to be a part of seven premiership sides in Darebin’s most dominant era that was filled with many of the players that would go on to be the faces of the AFLW.

She also featured in the second edition of the AFLW exhibition matches, which were the forerunner to the AFLW competition as it is today.

Despite never getting a chance to follow many of her former Falcons teammates into the AFLW, Simpson is not bitter about it.

“I was so happy for them. I’m still friends with pretty much all of them,” Simpson said. “I have just loved watching the AFLW in general, just seeing young girls have the opportunity to play at the highest level. It’s just great, so yeah I’ve loved it.”

Speaking of former teammates, she is now coached by one after Kate Tyndall took over the role ahead of last season. When speaking about what it is like to play under a former teammate, Simpson spoke glowingly of her coach.

“I’ve got a great relationship with Kate,” Simpson said. “She’s really understanding. She understands what it takes to play at this level but also the AFLW level, so I can’t speak highly enough of her and it’s great to have her here.”

Simpson is the current VFLW captain at the Falcons, and after so many famous names were captain before her, she feels honoured to fill the role now.

“Oh it’s a massive honour,” she said. “Each time I’m able to do it I just feel so lucky and privileged. “Obviously just tried to learn from all of those players like Daisy and Elise O’Dea, and even before that, all the girls that were captains prior to me, Bec, who played in our division two. Just we’ve had so many great leaders, not only from the girls that ended up playing AFLW but just all across the whole club.”

Although she is a forward now, that was not always the case.

“I played a lot of the first half of my career at Darebin on the wing, and then I struggled with a bit of an Achilles injury, so they popped me down forward and then I don’t know, I just became a bit handy around the goals so just kind of got stuck there I guess,” Simpson said.

Despite not making it to the AFLW, Simpson is happy with what she has achieved in her career. She suspects that her time to make the AFLW has passed, but is still enjoying playing at VFLW level.