DRIVING 12 hours return to train and play football, it is fair to say talented athletic ruck Amaia Wain is hellbent on chasing her AFL Women’s dream.

The top-age talent lives on New South Wales’ north east coast, with a six-hour trip one-way to Sydney where she has represented the Swans Academy, and played for UNSW-ES Bulldogs in the AFL Sydney Women’s Premier Division.

When asked how much time she spent travelling in an average week, Wain’s response with a chuckle was “a lot”.

“For Swans I would train once a fortnight on a Wednesday,” she said. “So I’d go down Wednesday morning, train, and then would drive home that night and we’d get home at about 1am, and then I’d go to school later that day.

“Then for games, we would drive down after school on a Friday night and then either to Newcastle or the Central Coast area, and then the rest of the way on the Saturday morning, play the game and then drive home the whole way Saturday night. “We’ve done 27 trips away for footy this year so we’ve spent lots of nights away.”

Those 27 away trips include 66 nights, but Wain was rewarded for her efforts by being named in the Team of the Year for the AFL Sydney Women’s Premier Division despite missing the first six games due to her Academy commitments.

Wain is a former athlete who has represented the green and gold on the international scale. Competing in the Under 20s High Jump and 4x100m relay at the Oceania Games in Fiji last year, the New South Wales local also won two gold medals and a further six medals in High Jump for the NSW State Championships and had two top five finishes when at the Australian Track and Field National Championships.

It should come as no surprise that with a high jump background, Wain has quite the vertical leap, and she recorded a massive 73cm running vertical earlier this year at the Swans Academy’s Preseason Combine which placed her second across the nation.

“I reckon my jumping from high jump, that transfers over to footy, so my aerial jumping (is a strength),” Wain said. “I think I’m reasonably fit so can run around the ground a lot especially being the Bulldogs ruck at UNSW this year, I spent a lot of time running. I was our only ruck so I just played 100 per cent of game time in the ruck so my aerobic capacity and I’m reasonably fast for a tall player.”

Wain’s football journey started as many do with a year at Auskick, but then she took a detour. Spending time away from the game as she was racking up accolades through athletics, Wain eventually found her way back to football later in her primary school days. At that stage she was in Melbourne, but the relocation to New South Wales did not deter her from continuing that journey.

For Wain, it has been about the physicality and team environment, including the social aspects that all encompass Australian rules football.

“I just love playing the sport,” Wain said. “Being able to just get the footy, run, break tackles, make tackles and all the people involved with the game.”

Citing her dad as her biggest influence with his willingness to help her improve and join her in the long car rides to Sydney, the pair have witnessed Wain grow through the footballing pathways from local football to the Swans Academy, and senior action in the Harbour City.

“It’s been great,” Wain said. “The local league up here is not super strong, so I was training with the men to try and improve my skills up at Sawtell, and then going down to Sydney I trained with UNSW a couple of times this year but I couldn’t get down too often because of school. “Then the Swans training has been really good, and then this year I’ve done a few trainings with the AFLW which has been an amazing experience.”

While juggling footy and school at the best of times is a challenge, Wain has made the most of her roadtrips by catching up on any homework or assignments. On the field she has been quite the revelation as well, winning the Women’s North Coast Best and Fairest as a 16-year-old in 2024, and also won the Under 17s North Coast Best and Fairest three consecutive seasons from 2022-24.

However Wain is always wanting more, which is why she has set her sights on the top level and is modelling her game around some of the best rucks in the country.

“I love watching Ally Morphett and Matilda Scholz, they’re kind of hybrid rucks,” she said. “They win the hitouts and then get the ball on the ground as well, get it forward and obviously being part of the Swans Academy watching a fair bit of ‘Morph’, her marking around the ground, like she gets back in defence, she’ll take intercept marks on the goalline and then get up forward too.”

Wain sees herself in a similar “hybrid ruck/utility” role, where she primarily plays in the middle, but thanks to her running capacity, has also spent time on a wing, and even down back which she said was “quite fun”. As for her improvements to get better she humbly noted “everything”.

“My skills of kicking and running as well as just getting fitter, faster and stronger,” Wain said. “I’m going up to Enhanced Footy in the Sunshine Coast in a few weeks to work on my skills and marking. “This year my marking wasn’t great so hopefully I can work on that. “Because I can jump high but I haven’t been able to take the marks, so I think that will be a standout if I’m able to fix that and then improve on those skills.”

While part of the Swans Academy, Wain has grown up supporting Geelong having followed the family’s lead for generations, though is happy to concede the red and white are her “second team”. Rewarded for her hard work in 2023 with the QBE Academy Scholarship, Wain thanked her coaches and mentors at the Swans Academy in Kristie Whittard, Bron Gulden and Tanya Hetherington, as well as UNSW coaches Tom Williamson and Aimee Whelan.

In 2026, the long road trips might come to an end with Wain relocating to Sydney where she intends to play at the Swans Academy as an over-ager as well as running out for the Bulldogs. However should opportunity knock interstate, the athletic tall is more than happy to relocate.

“I’d be happy to play anywhere, move anywhere for footy,” she said.

“Ultimately I want to be drafted and then play good footy, not just be on a list but be selected every week and be playing good footy so to get there I’ve got to work on my Swans games playing well in the Coates Talent League next year as an over-ager.”