{"id":72977,"date":"2020-10-01T14:32:34","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T04:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=72977"},"modified":"2020-10-01T14:32:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T04:32:34","slug":"ballard-ready-to-take-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/10\/01\/ballard-ready-to-take-next-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballard ready to take next step"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

BETWEEN her football commitments and working on her family farm, Abbie Ballard<\/strong> does not have much time to relax. However, while on the cusp of achieving her AFL Women’s dream, we offered Ballard the opportunity to reflect on her football journey so far.

\u201cI started playing at the Peake District Football Club when I was 10,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cI mainly played with the boys in the Auskick at half time of the A Grade, but every now and again the boys needed me to fill in for the Under 13s. I did that for a year, then played full-time for the boys until I was 15.\u201d

Unlike female footballers who competed in the boys\u2019 competitions because it was their only option, Ballard actually preferred playing against the boys.

\u201cI loved it, it was a much cleaner game to play and just so much more fun,\u201d she said. \u201cThe boys weren\u2019t afraid to tackle me and I wasn\u2019t afraid to tackle them, it was the best.\u201d

Ballard moved to West Adelaide to play against the girls when she was 15. Although the competition was not originally played at a great standard, Ballard says the league has made significant progress.

\u201c[SANFLW footy] has definitely been improving, everyone\u2019s getting better and the competition\u2019s becoming great,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good quality of football now, the speed of the game is quicker and the skills are much better than they used to be.\u201d

Ballard has achieved extraordinary continuity and consistency during her time in SANFLW, having played 31 out of 32 games over the past three years. She missed her first game this year due to an unfortunate concussion.

\u201cI\u2019ve been really lucky with injuries and have never really had one until this year, and I\u2019ve always played consistent football so I\u2019ve been picked every week,\u201d Ballard said.

At just age 17 in 2019, Ballard won West Adelaide\u2019s SANFLW Best and Fairest and finished sixth in the SANFLW League medal count. Very few AFLW prospects have attained this level of success prior to their draft year.

\u201cThese were huge achievements,\u201d she said. \u201cI was so proud that, at such a young age, I was playing such good football in the women\u2019s league. “I\u2019ve worked so hard to get where I am and it really just made everything worth it. “The Best and Fairest is definitely the best accolade in my career so far.\u201d

This season, Ballard finished fifth in the SANFLW medal count and led the Bloods to their first SANFLW Finals appearance. In a convincing semi-final victory over Norwood, Ballard collected 12 disposals, laid eight tackles and kicked a goal. Their season ended the following week with a 30-point Preliminary Final loss to South Adelaide.

\u201cEveryone was so proud of how well we did this season,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cWe worked so hard to get there and we wanted to go out and put everything we had left on the field, which is definitely what happened.\u201d

Ballard has learnt plenty from teammates that have already made the leap from SANFLW to AFLW. She is delighted that they continue to play at West Adelaide when they are available.

\u201cSome Westies girls who are now at the Crows like Maddi Newman<\/strong>, Chelsea Biddell<\/strong> and Rachelle Martin<\/strong> have been major inspirations for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing to watch what they\u2019ve been able to do and see them improve so much. I want to follow their pathway.\u201d

Ballard highlights Martin, the joint 2020 SANFLW League Best and Fairest, as the player that has helped her the most.

\u201cRachelle has taught me a lot about how to become a better midfielder, how to tackle better, how to body people and how to get into the right positions at stoppages,\u201d she said.

As Ballard has stated, her career goal is to follow in these girls\u2019 footsteps.

\u201cI\u2019d love to get into AFLW, that is my aim,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully that will be achievable this year, but we will see what happens. “I\u2019ve put my name down for this year\u2019s draft.\u201d

Although Ballard is primarily an inside midfielder, her booming left-foot kick makes her a weapon on the outside as well.

\u201cI take a lot of pride in my kicking,\u201d she said. \u201cMy kicking accuracy and ability to get in the contest and hit the ball hard are my biggest strengths, probably my handball accuracy as well. I work hard to improve my skills every year.\u201d

In order to elevate her game to the next level, Ballard has a specific focus over the next few months.

\u201cI need to improve my fitness and speed to be able to dominate games more often,\u201d she said.

Since finishing school at the end of 2019, Ballard has juggled full-time work with her football commitments. She is based on her family\u2019s farm in Coomandook.

\u201cIt\u2019s full-time so I\u2019m working every day with mum, dad and grandpa,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got pigs and sheep, and we do a bit of cropping.\u201d

Ballard says her family has been incredibly supportive of her football over the journey.

\u201cMum and dad would always spend hours taking me to football and watching me train,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been a huge support and I wouldn\u2019t be where I am without them.\u201d

As much as Ballard loves the farm, she would have no problems moving away to make her AFLW aspirations come true.

\u201cIt would be great to stay in SA but if I could go anywhere I would take the opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cMoving away to play football would be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Picture:<\/strong> SANFL<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

For more AFLW and SANFLW news, follow Tom Cheesman on Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BETWEEN her football commitments and working on her family farm, Abbie Ballard does not have much time to relax. However, while on the cusp of achieving her AFL Women’s dream, we offered Ballard the opportunity to reflect on her football journey so far. \u201cI started playing at the Peake District Football Club when I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":64022,"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":[278,8,7638,3130,11605,137],"tags":[4985,14707,14708,5999,7804,4228,8588,3578,1917,11777],"class_list":["post-72977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","category-news","category-sanflw","category-south-australia","category-west-adelaide","category-womens","tag-abbie-ballard","tag-abbie-ballard-feature","tag-abbie-ballard-west-adelaide","tag-chelsea-biddell","tag-maddi-newman","tag-rachelle-martin","tag-sanfl-womens","tag-sanflw","tag-west-adelaide","tag-west-adelaide-sanflw"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72977","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\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}