Emma Kearney was one of many women who picked up the footy as a child, played the sport as a junior, only to be told that she couldn't play the game she loved anymore and went on to excel at another sport.
The league best and fairest medal she received on Tuesday night capped off not just a wonderful AFLW season for the Western Bulldogs and the star midfielder herself, but this medal was a testament to all the hard yards she put in after rediscovering her love of Aussie Rules.
The story of Emma Kearney as a player and a person is among one of the more fascinating tales in women's football today.
Raised in the town of Cavendish, just an hour away from the Grampians in the Western part of Victoria, Kearney grew up an avid sports fan – she loved her football from a young age, but she also enjoyed cricket, basketball and hockey.
As a junior, she would mix it up with the boys – as many aspiring AFLW footballers would. Growing up on a farm, she had plenty of space to kick the football around and she would often do it with her two brothers. By the time she reached the age of 12, she wasn't allowed to play football anymore.
This forced Kearney to not just give up the sport, but to resent it as well, quoting in one article: “There were no opportunities for me to play, so I cracked it with the sport.”
She didn't turn her back on the sport for long, as Kearney rediscovered her passion to play football whilst she was studying a physical education teaching degree and by 2010, she was running out for Melbourne University in the VWFL. By this time, Kearney was playing Hockey during the winter months, but she became a rising star the moment she stepped back onto the football field, she gave Hockey the flick almost instantly.
By 2013, she became a widely-known figure to those who watched the women's league with regularity. In the first-ever AFL women's exhibition match, both Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs held a draft to select their sides ahead of their first-ever women's match. Kearney was selected 10th overall by the Western Bulldogs.
She was selected ahead of names such as team mates Ellie Blackburn and Katie Brennan, as well as names such as Elise O'Dea, Mel Hickey, Kate Lutkins, Alicia Eva, Courtney Gum and Jasmine Garner – names that would prove to be household names in the newly-created women's league somewhere down the line.
Whilst the Dogs would lose the inaugural clash with the Demons, the club showed enough faith in Kearney to retain her for the 2014 exhibition game. The way she worked hard in the middle, the way she did it consistently and her kicking skills are huge factors in the way she not only plays the game, but makes an impact on it as well.
But Aussie Rules wasn't the only sport that she was good at. In the Summer time, she turned her attention towards playing cricket. It was here that she found her niche as a right-arm, medium pace bowler.
She played grade cricket for Essendon Maribyrnong Park, before selected to represent the state of Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League. In her 20 games representing the Spirit, Kearney took nine wickets in 20 matches from 2013 onwards, before signing on as a member of the Melbourne Stars' inaugural 20/20 WBBL team for the 2015/16 season. She took seven wickets from her 12 matches that season and in the eyes of some, was seen as the team's most economic fast-bowler.
On top of juggling football and cricket, Kearney's day-time job at before the inception of the AFLW, was as a Phys Ed teacher at Mount Alexander College, working with year 11's and year 12's and does this job Monday to Thursday and whilst it is a busy life, Kearney has always been described to as someone with an extraordinary work-ethic, so does it really come as a surprise here?
Given her history with the Bulldogs – playing five exhibition matches from 2013-16, Kearney signed on with the club as a priority selection. This meant that she would be reunited with Melbourne University team mate Ellie Blackburn, who Kearney described as a team-mate that she absolutely loved playing alongside. She would also be joined by Brooke Lochland, Bailey Hunt, Angelica Gogos and Lauren Spark as Mugar team mates to come across to the Western Oval following the expansion draft.
On top of being a talented on-baller, Emma Kearney also enjoys a bit of trash-talking on the field, with some players even branding her the title as 'Queen of the sledge'. One such incident happened in a practice match between Collingwood in 2017, where she gave a massive serving to Emma Grant after a goal was kicked, which infuriated a few of her Magpie team mates. It didn't faze her though, she is a strong believer in the sledge and banter on the field.
Given her history with the Bulldogs, it came as no surprise to see her dominate games in the AFLW straight out of the bat. In her first official AFLW game, Kearney had a game-high 23 disposals and her team mate Blackburn was also running rampant in the midfield. The pair formed perhaps one of the most deadliest one-two combinations in the league in just the first season.
However, the problem with the Western Bulldogs' 2017 team was that after the two of them, there was no midfield depth and as a result, the forward struggled to kick a winning score – especially with Katie Brennan gone with an ankle injury for most of the year, thus meaning that the Dogs found themselves at the bottom half of the AFLW ladder after the first season.
Statistically though, it was a tremendous first-year for Kearney. She was in the top-five players for disposals, second in the league in clearances – behind the eventual league best and fairest Erin Phillips – equal second in goal assists, and led the league in bounces, which was a testament to her ability to run, carry and break the lines. There was even one game that saw Kearney make history by being the first woman to record a 30-disposal game, that being in a loss to Brisbane in round six of the 2017 season.
Both her and Ellie Blackburn were awarded for stand-out years when both were named joint club best and fairest winners – it was well deserved as both were the only two that did stand out in a disappointing year for the Daughters of the West. On top of this, she would not only represent the first-ever AFLW All-Australian team, but she was among four Bulldog players to represent Victoria in the first-ever State of Origin game. The Vics would go on comfortably to beat the rest of the nation, and not surprisingly, Kearney would be one of multiple Victorians to have a great game.
It all changed dramatically in the span of a few months. With Paul Groves changing up the game-plan for a more attacking style of play and a more direct focus to kicking the red-leather footy. In addition to the recruitment of a few young guns to shore up the midfield stocks in Jenna Bruton, as well as another talented Melbourne uni duo in Monique Conti and Izzy Huntington, the Western Bulldogs were set to go in 2018.
If her round one performance was anything to go by, Emma Kearney looked every bit of a league best and fairest winner. There were people that doubted her abilities to impact on a game and that was because the Bulldogs just simply weren't getting the results, and that wasn't a fair criticism because the Dogs genuinely lacked players to stand up when the game was in the balance.
Not so this year, Kearney led a group of hungry Dogs to the footy with each game. Whilst the Dogs didn't win every game this season, this one Daughter of the West consistently put in terrific performances, and by midway through the season, she was amongst one of a few names in the running to take home this year's club best and fairest award, and with each game the Dogs came closer to a Grand Final berth, the more rumblings were heard about Kearney's imminent AFLW best and fairest win. Despite a few attempts from taggers to negate her influence on the contest, Kearney proved with her extraordinary work-ethic that she was a very hard woman to stop.
This came to fruition in the final game of the home and away season as the Bulldogs took on Melbourne for the right to host this year's 2018 AFLW Grand Final. Emma Kearney would take the best-on-ground honours in this match, as the Western Bulldogs marched on into the 2018 AFLW Grand Final.
The rest as we should all know by now, is history. While Monique Conti's second-half efforts got her the best-on-ground medal in that match, Kearney played her usual role in the midfield and took a lot of big hits from several Brisbane players, but came up with a clutch goal in the final quarter, right when it looked like the Brisbane Lions were threatening to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Kearney capped off another stunning year as a midfielder, leading all comers in disposals, clearances and kicks, and sitting second in the league for bounces and goal assists. She was one of four Bulldogs named in the 2018 All-Australian team and one of nine players to be named in both AFLW All-Australian teams as well, before finally sealing the AFLW best and fairest with a three-vote performance against the Demons in round seven, to become the first Bulldog to be named league best and fairest.
However, with all the accolades that she has rightfully earned this season, there have been numerous sources linking her to the new North Melbourne AFLW franchise that comes into the league next year. Now for those who aren't in the know, North Melbourne are the partners of Melbourne University who – as I mentioned earlier – Kearney plays for in the state league. All AFLW players are out of contract this year, but we still don't have any indication whether or not Kearney will remain at Whitten Oval beyond 2018.
We know that she loves playing with her team mates at the Western Bulldogs – the entire side is remarkably tight-knit. But will the lure of captaincy and a walk-up start in the 22 of a team that has supported the VFLW side she has been apart of since her return to footy?
If she does move on – several sources believe this will be the case – then it will be extremely disappointing, but at least Emma Kearney can walk out the doors of Whitten Oval knowing she has done pretty much everything there is for a midfielder to achieve. League best and fairest, a premiership, an All-Australian and a club best and fairest – all in the span of two years.
2018 has truly been the year of Emma Kearney and the Western Bulldogs.