HAVING made her debut in Adelaide’s game against Brisbane during the regular season last year, Taylah Levy is establishing herself as part of the Crows’ midfield rotation.

Levy played netball, football and basketball growing up, which resulted in a scholarship to play basketball in the United States.

Returning home, she played at South Adelaide in the SANFLW with Teah Charlton and Hannah Munyard, as well as former Crows teammate Montana McKinnon. Adelaide was keen on Levy back in 2019, and kept in touch just in case she wanted to progress in the football sphere.

Last NBL1 Central season, Levy suited up for the Central District Lions who won the Women’s championship. After playing for the Eastern Mavericks the year prior, Levy went from the bottom to the top of the ladder.

Ahead of the Crows’ must-win fixture against the Brisbane Lions, Levy spoke about her football career so far and her off-season basketball exploits.

“I moved clubs in the off-season in basketball and they didn’t win a game,” Levy said.

“I think [may have] won one game last year so going from a one-win team to win the championship was pretty special and pretty good to take it home to that club.”

She explained how she felt winning the Most Valuable Player award in the final, stating that it was the championship that was most important. In the final Levy notched up 25 points, seven assists and eight rebounds as the Lions won their first title in their history.

“It was good, for me it’s more about winning the championship as a team,” she continued.

“[The] MVP [award] just came along which was nice but definitely happy to do it for the club and do it for the girls I was playing with.”

Levy is starting to establish herself as a secondary midfielder in Adelaide’s team. With talent such as Anne Hatchard, Ebony Marinoff and Danielle Ponter, Levy will look to ply her trade under the best in the competition.

“I think just for me coming in and having a strong pre-season, obviously with the help of the girls behind me, but just having faith in myself and the coach to have that faith in me [that’s been good],” she said.

“Hopefully I can stay in the team and hopefully keep playing some good football.”

When asked about her ability to play as a utility for coach Matthew Clarke, Levy is adamant that as long as she’s part of the side, she’s happy to play whatever role is expected of her.

“I kind of just play whatever role they need me to play at that point in time,” Levy continued.

“Obviously I love being in the midfield, we’ve got a strong midfield though so if I can go up forward and do my role up there then I’m happy to do that.”

With the clash of the coming week being the Crows’ grudge match with AFLW rivals Brisbane, Adelaide will look to turn the tide against the reigning champs.

Levy describes her expectations ahead of the match.

“It’s going to be a hot contest, obviously ‘Brissy’ is sitting second on the ladder at the moment [and] every time we play them it’s always a good contest and a good game,” she said.

“It will be interesting to see what happens and hopefully we get the job done.”

Having played 11 games against each other so far in the competition’s history, Adelaide have won three games and the Lions have won the remaining eight with the last four consecutive wins. Levy explained how the Crows approach Sunday’s game given the trend when facing Brisbane.

“We had a bit of a chat about that yesterday and obviously the past is something that you’ve got to think about going up against a good team but we are just trying to wipe the past [away] and focus on the present,” Levy admitted.

“Playing them, they’ve got [some] new [players in the] team [and] we’ve got new inclusions in our team so it’s definitely going to be a good game.

We are not really sure which way it’s going to go but hopefully we can go out and get the job done.”

One aspect of Brisbane’s team that has always been a key to wins for them is their forward line. Featuring the current leading goalkicker (as of the 25th of September) Taylor Smith, as well as Sophie Conway and Dakota Davidson, the Crows defenders will have their hands full.

The Adelaide defensive unit are up to the task though, having impressed so far this season. Madison Newman, Chelsea Biddell and Zoe Prowse in particular are continuing to have break-out years.

“I think it’s just [the fact that we are going to have to] stick to our guns,” she said.

“Our backline is very strong down there and we’ve obviously got some All-Australians down there and people that can play their role so if they can all do that and then we can help them as midfielders and forwards as well we’re gonna bring a good game to watch and a good contest.”