NORTHERN Knights ruck,\u00a0Neve O\u2019Connor\u00a0<\/b>did not think she would be a part of the TAC Cup Girls program. Nor did she think she would be selected for Vic Metro.<\/p>\n
The 18 year-old ticked both those boxes this year and is enjoying learning about Australian Rules through these opportunities. Before she played at the Knights, O\u2019Connor was selected to play for the Calder Cannons, which kick-started her positive football experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI first started at Calder Cannons when I was a youth before there was TAC,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think that would happen (getting selected for Calder). \u201cIt was really good and definitely a great experience, and playing two seasons at the Knights has been amazing for my development and it\u2019s just such a good culture. \u201cI\u2019ve learnt so much about my footy.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor has continued to learn about her own game at the Northern Knights, but has also benefited from learning about her teammates\u2019 style of football. Despite being one of the older players at the club, the 18 year-old says she has learned just as much off the younger players at the Knights and sees a bright future ahead for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few times at training, they\u2019d (younger players) show me up and I would just kind of sit back and say \u2018woah\u2019,\u201d O\u2019Connor admitted. \u201cEspecially\u00a0Ellie McKenzie<\/b>, I wonder what she\u2019ll be like in a couple of years. \u201cI just think it was really great to see that we had depth for the future, I can\u2019t wait to see where they go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Combining older and younger talent has been very beneficial for the Knights, who reached the maiden TAC Cup Girls Grand Final. Although they fell short to the Geelong Falcons, O\u2019Connor says she is extremely proud of the achievement of getting to the big stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be in the Grand Final was phenomenal and to lose by a pretty small amount was pretty annoying,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I\u2019m still so proud of the fact that we had such a young team and we went really well against a developing natural team like Geelong.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor is not surprised that her side made the Grand Final, as she sensed good things from her teammates just from training with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew from the start that we had a really good team,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the girls trained, we all bonded really quickly and worked pretty well together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she is focused on football now, O\u2019Connor\u2019s childhood consisted of many sports. As a junior, she participated in basketball, dancing, cricket and also trampolining. But when she stumbled across football, it was hard for her to look back, as she enjoyed the sport immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI first started (playing football) when I was 14,\u201d the 18 year-old said. \u201cI played basketball and a mix of other sports. \u201cThen I played footy in PE (Physical Education) for two weeks. \u201cMy coach was starting a girls team and he sent me down there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little did she know that four years later, she would be selected to represent her state. O\u2019Connor met the opportunity with emotion, and was very grateful to have received the coveted invite to play for Vic Metro.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a relief, this season especially, because there were a lot of excellent rucks in the competition,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I got the letter, I did cry a little. \u201cI was so relieved to just get it. \u201cI teared up, I couldn\u2019t help it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently in Year 12, O\u2019Connor\u2019s career path is different to some other Under 18 players, but she shares the same focus with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ll be taking a gap year to get out of school and try something new,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ll definitely be pursuing footy and see how I go. \u201cNext year would be great but I\u2019ll take each week as it comes and that sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NORTHERN Knights ruck,\u00a0Neve O\u2019Connor\u00a0did not think she would be a part of the TAC Cup Girls program. Nor did she think she would be selected for Vic Metro. The 18 year-old ticked both those boxes this year and is enjoying learning about Australian Rules through these opportunities. Before she played at the Knights, O\u2019Connor was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":32728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,7950,8,11594,18221,137],"tags":[6576,9539,3806,11639,45,1880],"class_list":["post-38765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","category-nab-league-girls","category-news","category-northern-knights","category-northern-knights-girls","category-womens","tag-ellie-mckenze","tag-nab-league-girls-features","tag-neve-oconnor","tag-neve-oconnor-feature","tag-northern-knights","tag-vic-metro"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87876,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38765\/revisions\/87876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}