FOR AILEEN GILROY, her third season in the Australian Football League Women [AFLW] depended on one crucial but equally understandable demand: that her boyfriend Peter would be coming along as part of the deal.
AAP / PA Images
AAP / PA Images / PA Images
The pair had maintained a long distance relationship for long enough and the Killala woman wasn’t getting on a plane without him. She was very clear on that point with her club North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos. And if another season Down Under couldn’t be agreed on those terms, Aileen was out and she was prepared to go travelling with Peter instead.
But the Roos didn’t want to let go of their star Irish recruit who they had scouted to join their ranks. And on a Tuesday morning last October, an early phone call came through to inform her that her demands had been met.
“They really dug deep to get me across and Peter as well,” Gilroy tells The42 just a few days on from the conclusion of the Roos’ third season which ended in defeat to Fremantle in the qualifying final.
“I’m forever grateful for that. The club was in contact with everyone possible to try and get me across.”
It was the head of the women’s footy division at North Melbourne, Nathan Hrovat who rang Gilroy that morning to give her the good news. Of course, they agreed, but it was a frantic rush to get Gilroy on a flight and back in Australia in time for pre-season.
Living in Wexford — where Peter is from — Gilroy had a few important stops to make before they took off.
“Those three or four days were just manic,” Gilroy recalls. “He rang at like 4.30 in the morning and I was getting up at 5.30. I had a missed call from Nathan and he was just like, ‘Is Peter awake?’ And he said to tell him that he’s coming to Australia.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I couldn’t believe it and he told me to pack my bags now and said I’d be going out either Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
“I was working at 7 and Peter was in school at 9. Then it was like the flights were booked and we were going Friday. We had to go up to our bosses and be like, ‘Sorry, we’re actually going to Australia.’ So then we had to go up to Dublin to get our Covid tests, go over to Mayo to say goodbye to my family. Back up to Dublin then to say goodbye to some of his friends, back to Wexford to say goodbye to his family.
“Next thing it’s Friday morning and we’re on a plane heading to Australia. It was just bizarre.”
Gilroy was back in plenty of time for the 2021 campaign, and was living with Peter, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. But her pre-season was fraught with disruptions. After completing the requisite hotel quarantine for two weeks, Gilroy was only into her second day of freedom when she felt something strange on her leg while out walking her sister’s dog.
Within a few days, she started suffering with a terrible pain in her head and had no energy. The club doctor prescribed antibiotics and advised her to keep a check on her symptoms in case they worsened.
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However, her condition did not improve and Gilroy was sent to hospital to undergo surgery.
“I always have the attitude that it has to get worse before it gets better so we were back in training on the Tuesday,” she says. “I went to the doctor and she just said that I couldn’t train and said, ‘You need to go to hospital and prepare yourself for an operation.’
“I thought that it couldn’t be that bad. It was sore and when I’d get up to walk, I would feel it. But, yeah, I went in that night and they said I would need an operation to get it drained out. I had hole in my leg to heal it from the inside out. It’s amazing what the body can do.”
It was a bite from a white-tailed spider that put Gilroy in that spot of bother. The pain of it wasn’t unbearable and the solution was straight forward, but the experience wasn’t without its challenges.
Being hospitalised as a result of an insect bite isn’t a common sight in Ireland, but Gilroy used her Irish humour to make sense of the situation.
“At first, I was like, ‘This could only happen to an Irish person,’” Gilroy reasons.
“And then I was like, I came across to play footy and imagine if things get really bad and they have to take my leg off.
“And it was the middle of Covid so people couldn’t come in to see me. That was a bit tough as well but the care I got in the hospital was second to none. They were so good. The doctors and the club in those few days were always asking if there was anything they could do for me.
“It was just a matter of get the operation done and it could only get better after that. So it was sore for three or four days but you just get on with it.
“So, yeah it was fine even though I’d say Mam had a heart attack. When I told her I got bitten by a spider, she thought I was going to lose my leg but it was fine.”
There was one more hurdle for Gilroy to face before she could fully focus on playing for North Melbourne: a Covid diagnosis, which she received around Christmas time. Thankfully, she didn’t suffer greatly with the virus and despite an interrupted pre-season, Gilroy was fully available for all the games in the AFLW season.
For the second year in-a-row, North Melbourne reached the qualifying final stage of the competition and racked up seven wins on the way to a fourth-placed finish on the ladder.
Gilroy would have preferred that their season ended on a stronger note, but is confident that the Roos don’t have far to go to make the breakthrough to the top bracket of teams in the competition.
“We didn’t play our best game against Freo [Fremantle] so that was really disappointing. But throughout the other games, I thought we were developing really well. We had a lot of young girls coming in this year and I thought they really developed as players, which is really promising for the club to have that coming in.”
Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, Melbourne, Fremantle and Adelaide Crows are the remaining teams who will fight it out to be in this year’s AFLW Grand Final on 9 April. There’s Irish representation in each of those sides, meaning there will be at least one Irish Premiership winner at the end of the season.
Gilroy has witnessed a “huge” growth in the sport throughout her three seasons in the AFLW, as the competition faces into a major shift with more clubs coming in. It was recently reported that the new season will begin this coming August and will run until the end of November or early December.
The move isn’t confirmed yet, although according to Gilroy, it’s “90% there” and most clubs are operating on the assumption that this will be the case. It will certainly be a huge change for existing players, who were used to playing their games in the early months of the calendar year.
Gilroy believes it will be better to start the AFLW season in August. AAP / PA Images
AAP / PA Images / PA Images
Playing matches in August is preferable for Gilroy as the heat is less intense at the time of the year in Australia.
“The sun is horrendous,” she says when describing the playing conditions of the AFLW season during it’s normal January-April window.
But while moving the matches to months when the temperatures are cooler brings obvious positives, it also presents some difficulties for the Irish contingent. They will likely have to choose between finishing out the inter-county season or presenting on time for pre-season with their AFLW clubs.
Up to now, they were able to play both sports.
This dilemma won’t apply to Gilroy, who opted out of the Mayo panel last year after finding she could no longer keep up the commute between her native county and her new home in Wexford.
She’s on her down time now since North Melbourne made their exit, and won’t be returning to the Mayo panel this year as she and Peter plan to do some travelling shortly.
But the 2017 All-Star midfielder does suspect there will be difficult decisions ahead for the other Irish AFLW player.
“They’re going to have to make a decision. They knew it was going to come down the line but we didn’t think it was going to come this quickly. And the fact that they sprung it on us that season could be starting in August. So that means you’ll have nine or 10 weeks off now and then it’s back into pre-season.
“Clubs will want their girls out in June so if you’re making good progress in championship [at home], you’re leaving in the midst of that, so it definitely is a hard decision. But it’s a hard decision not to come out here either. The opportunity and the experience is offered out here is unbelievable.
“I always say that if it doesn’t work out, at least you can always go home and play county.”
Irish players still involved in the 2022 AFLW Final Series
Orla O’Dwyer (Brisbane Lions / Tipperary)
Sarah Rowe (Collingwood / Mayo)
Aishling Sheridan (Collingwood / Cavan)
Áine Tighe (Fremantle / Leitrim)
Sinéad Goldrick (Melbourne / Dublin)
Lauren Magee (Melbourne / Dublin)
Ailish Considine (Clare / Adelaide Crows).
A new episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness, is out now. After Ireland’s Triple Crown win, Murray Kinsella gives us the rundown on his team of the tournament. Ireland international Sene Naoupu also joins the panel to chat about her career and look ahead to the start of the Women’s Six Nations. Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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'I had a hole in my leg to heal it from inside out' - Surgery for spider bite and a third AFLW season
FOR AILEEN GILROY, her third season in the Australian Football League Women [AFLW] depended on one crucial but equally understandable demand: that her boyfriend Peter would be coming along as part of the deal.
The pair had maintained a long distance relationship for long enough and the Killala woman wasn’t getting on a plane without him. She was very clear on that point with her club North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos. And if another season Down Under couldn’t be agreed on those terms, Aileen was out and she was prepared to go travelling with Peter instead.
But the Roos didn’t want to let go of their star Irish recruit who they had scouted to join their ranks. And on a Tuesday morning last October, an early phone call came through to inform her that her demands had been met.
“They really dug deep to get me across and Peter as well,” Gilroy tells The42 just a few days on from the conclusion of the Roos’ third season which ended in defeat to Fremantle in the qualifying final.
“I’m forever grateful for that. The club was in contact with everyone possible to try and get me across.”
It was the head of the women’s footy division at North Melbourne, Nathan Hrovat who rang Gilroy that morning to give her the good news. Of course, they agreed, but it was a frantic rush to get Gilroy on a flight and back in Australia in time for pre-season.
Living in Wexford — where Peter is from — Gilroy had a few important stops to make before they took off.
“Those three or four days were just manic,” Gilroy recalls. “He rang at like 4.30 in the morning and I was getting up at 5.30. I had a missed call from Nathan and he was just like, ‘Is Peter awake?’ And he said to tell him that he’s coming to Australia.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I couldn’t believe it and he told me to pack my bags now and said I’d be going out either Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
“I was working at 7 and Peter was in school at 9. Then it was like the flights were booked and we were going Friday. We had to go up to our bosses and be like, ‘Sorry, we’re actually going to Australia.’ So then we had to go up to Dublin to get our Covid tests, go over to Mayo to say goodbye to my family. Back up to Dublin then to say goodbye to some of his friends, back to Wexford to say goodbye to his family.
“Next thing it’s Friday morning and we’re on a plane heading to Australia. It was just bizarre.”
Gilroy was back in plenty of time for the 2021 campaign, and was living with Peter, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. But her pre-season was fraught with disruptions. After completing the requisite hotel quarantine for two weeks, Gilroy was only into her second day of freedom when she felt something strange on her leg while out walking her sister’s dog.
Within a few days, she started suffering with a terrible pain in her head and had no energy. The club doctor prescribed antibiotics and advised her to keep a check on her symptoms in case they worsened.
However, her condition did not improve and Gilroy was sent to hospital to undergo surgery.
“I always have the attitude that it has to get worse before it gets better so we were back in training on the Tuesday,” she says. “I went to the doctor and she just said that I couldn’t train and said, ‘You need to go to hospital and prepare yourself for an operation.’
“I thought that it couldn’t be that bad. It was sore and when I’d get up to walk, I would feel it. But, yeah, I went in that night and they said I would need an operation to get it drained out. I had hole in my leg to heal it from the inside out. It’s amazing what the body can do.”
It was a bite from a white-tailed spider that put Gilroy in that spot of bother. The pain of it wasn’t unbearable and the solution was straight forward, but the experience wasn’t without its challenges.
Being hospitalised as a result of an insect bite isn’t a common sight in Ireland, but Gilroy used her Irish humour to make sense of the situation.
“At first, I was like, ‘This could only happen to an Irish person,’” Gilroy reasons.
“And then I was like, I came across to play footy and imagine if things get really bad and they have to take my leg off.
“And it was the middle of Covid so people couldn’t come in to see me. That was a bit tough as well but the care I got in the hospital was second to none. They were so good. The doctors and the club in those few days were always asking if there was anything they could do for me.
“It was just a matter of get the operation done and it could only get better after that. So it was sore for three or four days but you just get on with it.
“So, yeah it was fine even though I’d say Mam had a heart attack. When I told her I got bitten by a spider, she thought I was going to lose my leg but it was fine.”
There was one more hurdle for Gilroy to face before she could fully focus on playing for North Melbourne: a Covid diagnosis, which she received around Christmas time. Thankfully, she didn’t suffer greatly with the virus and despite an interrupted pre-season, Gilroy was fully available for all the games in the AFLW season.
For the second year in-a-row, North Melbourne reached the qualifying final stage of the competition and racked up seven wins on the way to a fourth-placed finish on the ladder.
Gilroy would have preferred that their season ended on a stronger note, but is confident that the Roos don’t have far to go to make the breakthrough to the top bracket of teams in the competition.
“We didn’t play our best game against Freo [Fremantle] so that was really disappointing. But throughout the other games, I thought we were developing really well. We had a lot of young girls coming in this year and I thought they really developed as players, which is really promising for the club to have that coming in.”
Brisbane Lions, Collingwood, Melbourne, Fremantle and Adelaide Crows are the remaining teams who will fight it out to be in this year’s AFLW Grand Final on 9 April. There’s Irish representation in each of those sides, meaning there will be at least one Irish Premiership winner at the end of the season.
Gilroy has witnessed a “huge” growth in the sport throughout her three seasons in the AFLW, as the competition faces into a major shift with more clubs coming in. It was recently reported that the new season will begin this coming August and will run until the end of November or early December.
The move isn’t confirmed yet, although according to Gilroy, it’s “90% there” and most clubs are operating on the assumption that this will be the case. It will certainly be a huge change for existing players, who were used to playing their games in the early months of the calendar year.
Playing matches in August is preferable for Gilroy as the heat is less intense at the time of the year in Australia.
“The sun is horrendous,” she says when describing the playing conditions of the AFLW season during it’s normal January-April window.
But while moving the matches to months when the temperatures are cooler brings obvious positives, it also presents some difficulties for the Irish contingent. They will likely have to choose between finishing out the inter-county season or presenting on time for pre-season with their AFLW clubs.
Up to now, they were able to play both sports.
This dilemma won’t apply to Gilroy, who opted out of the Mayo panel last year after finding she could no longer keep up the commute between her native county and her new home in Wexford.
She’s on her down time now since North Melbourne made their exit, and won’t be returning to the Mayo panel this year as she and Peter plan to do some travelling shortly.
But the 2017 All-Star midfielder does suspect there will be difficult decisions ahead for the other Irish AFLW player.
“They’re going to have to make a decision. They knew it was going to come down the line but we didn’t think it was going to come this quickly. And the fact that they sprung it on us that season could be starting in August. So that means you’ll have nine or 10 weeks off now and then it’s back into pre-season.
“Clubs will want their girls out in June so if you’re making good progress in championship [at home], you’re leaving in the midst of that, so it definitely is a hard decision. But it’s a hard decision not to come out here either. The opportunity and the experience is offered out here is unbelievable.
“I always say that if it doesn’t work out, at least you can always go home and play county.”
Irish players still involved in the 2022 AFLW Final Series
A new episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness, is out now. After Ireland’s Triple Crown win, Murray Kinsella gives us the rundown on his team of the tournament. Ireland international Sene Naoupu also joins the panel to chat about her career and look ahead to the start of the Women’s Six Nations. Click here to subscribe or listen below:
The42 / SoundCloud
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