Sherrin footballs have come in AFLW players' lives at different times. Photo: AAP
An increasing number of women with links to New Zealand are forging a path in a distinctly Australian sport.
Clubs across the 18-team Australian Football League Women (AFLW) have players who have represented New Zealand in other sports, grown up in Aotearoa, lived here temporarily or have Kiwi parents.
Their reasons for picking up a Sherrin differ, as does how long they've been running around on the oval.
Since 2021 AFL New Zealand has named an annual Women's Heritage team highlighting the talent making their mark across the Tasman. Last year all 20 players named in the team (that's purely on paper) were regularly playing in the AFLW.
The same number are listed with AFLW clubs this season.
Growing up many of these women would never of dreamed of playing professional Australian Football or being recognised by that sport in New Zealand.
The 2023 AFLW is in full swing and RNZ caught up with some players with Kiwi connections as their sport grows.
Rugby, rugby league and AFLW
Essendon Bombers defender Brooke Walker is a triple code star.
Growing up in Manurewa, South Auckland in a "massive family who absolutely loved rugby, any sort of rugby, it was rugby league, rugby union or even touch footy or tag", Walker was destined to pick up a ball.
She played rugby league and rugby before she moved to Australia in her early teens.
After finishing high school Walker joined the Australian rugby sevens team in 2013, won gold at the 2016 Olympics and switched to Australian Football in 2018.
In 2022 she temporarily returned to rugby league with the Paramatta Eels in the NRLW to fulfill a childhood dream.
Essendon Bombers Brooke Walker Photo: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos
This year is Walker's fifth season of AFLW and her first with the Bombers.
Her grandparents would have preferred she represented New Zealand in rugby but they are supportive of her sporting career.
"I grew up around so much rugby and I played rugby professionally. I think when I was about 23 I was ready for a new sort of challenge, I was ready to learn again and put myself in an uncomfortable environment where I can develop my skills and my knowledge about another sport.
"I got towards the back end of my rugby career and I'd just been doing it for so long that it had become a bit mundane and I probably wasn't pushing myself as much as I could of so I knew at that point that I required a bit of a change so I was very fortunate to be able to find that AFLW was exactly what I was looking for," the 28-year-old said.
The rest of her family have also got on board.
"My dad, who I never thought would be an AFL supporter at all, he knows the game so well that he's even decided to give me feedback.
"...my siblings, my grandparents they've supported me the whole way through even though it probably feels a bit unnatural to be watching AFLW on the weekends instead of the All Blacks or the Warriors or whatever might be happening in New Zealand."
Walker is proud of her heritage and would like more Kiwis to get involved in the sport.
"It would be an unreal opportunity even for something like ANZAC where you could play Australia versus New Zealand, I would love to represent New Zealand in AFL because I think New Zealanders would have the right skill sets and attributes to be really successful at the sport and it's unfortunate that not a lot of people in New Zealand are exposed to it because I reckon they would absolutely smash it at AFL and as a country be very competitive."
Fremantle Dockers AFLW player Ange Stannett who was born in Hamilton. Photo: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos
Freo duo fall out of love with other sports and find their way to Australian Football
Fremantle Dockers star Ange Stannett was born in Hamilton and moved to Perth as a pre-schooler. In Western Australia, soccer was accessible and Stannett's main sport from a young age.
She advanced through the ranks and was with Perth Glory in the W-League (which later became the A-League) before she joined the Dockers in 2019.
Stannett hadn't played a game of Australian Football before she was recruited to the club.
Having stepped back from Glory "because I lost the love for it and I wasn't enjoying it", an opportunity in the AFLW around 12 months later came as a surprise.
"I went back to playing club soccer and I got to a point where I was feeling really good again, I was really fit I was pretty strong because I'd been putting in the work in the gym and I was looking for something to do to keep me fit for soccer over the summer so I started to reach out to a couple of people [asking] do you know any rugby league clubs even, because obviously my family we followed rugby growing up we didn't really follow footy, but then one of the people close to me said why don't you give footy a crack.
"It seemed like a super exciting opportunity and at the time AFLW was blowing up so I got in touch with the club to figure out how to go about it because it was a rookie position and an opportunity where you don't need any experience with footy and being at Perth Glory qualified me for that rookie position. I went through the trials and got picked up from there which is pretty wild.
"It just shows how transferable some of the athletic skills are from other sports in to AFL."
In September Stannett reached the 50 game milestone in the AFLW.
A game earlier she kicked her first goal.
"The goal was fun, I've always been a defender my whole life for every sport I've ever played so it was good."
Stannett's team mate forward Makaela Tuhakaraina, whose dad is a New Zealander, tried a lot of sports before she debuted with the Dockers in 2022.
Fremantle Dockers Makaela Tuhakaraina Photo: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos
"I started off with netball then my parents thought it'd be cool to throw me in rugby as well at the age of eight, carried those on for a while then decided to quit netball because it wasn't really for me and I lost the love for it stopped rugby for a bit because I lost the love for that but decided to come back a few years later.
"Also tried out tennis for a little bit, did a bit of Muay Thai to gain a bit of confidence in myself and make me stronger and use that in rugby as well.
"Then Covid hit in 2020 and rugby was cancelled due to a lack of teams and so I decided to try football out just because I had a few mates from high school who were telling me about it and it would keep me fit."
Tuhakaraina made the state team in her second year of Australian Football in 2021 and was drafted at the end of that year to Fremantle.
Injury and illness limited Tuhakaraina's involvement in 2022 and she has played in half of the Dockers first six games of 2023 but she's trying to the find the lighter side of the situation.
"I try to make a fool of myself, make [team mates] all laugh ... obviously you can be a bit flat about some things but I try to just be as positive as I can and get around and cheer as loud as I possibly can."
Stannett and Tuhakaraina were named in the last AFLNZ New Zealand Heritage team, to their shock, and will wait to see who makes the team this year.
Competition on the rise
In September AFLW players locked in a better future for their game.
Under a new joint collective bargaining agreement with AFL men's players, the AFLW players received an immediate 29 percent pay rise with the average wage increasing to $63,000 now and to $88,000 by the time the deal ends in 2027.
Comparatively in New Zealand a Super Rugby Aupiki player will get $17,000 next season, a netball player gets between $26,000 and $56,000 for seven months in the ANZ Premiership and basketballers in the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa an earn up to $16,000 for eight weeks work.
The length of the AFLW season will increase from 10 matches to 12 in 2025, while players will receive 12-month contracts and be able to sign multi-year deals.
The league has also introduced a 12-month pregnancy policy with immediate effect, which would start from six weeks before a player's due date.
Stannett says the AFLW has come a really long way in a short period of time.
"Our responsibility now as players is to try and leave it in a better place for the girls coming through behind us and to be able to make that change you've got to be able to push for certain things and to their credit the AFL have been incredible, their investment has been massive and that's the only reason we've been able to get it to where it is now through the AFL's investment and willingness to promote the game.
"There's certainly more opportunities now than there were even two three years ago and I think with the growth that is yet to come with the game there is only going to be increased opportunity again."
Many of the current AFLW players in Stannett's age bracket - she's 26 - did not grow up with professional footy as a possibility.
Fremantle Dockers AFLW team lead out by New Zealand's Ange Stannett. Photo: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos
"I don't think AFLW was on the radar of any of the girls who are above 19 or 20 because there was no professional pathway for a long time so from early on we've all come from random sports because there wasn't that professional league to really set your sights on so it shows how much of a fantastic opportunity that young girls have now.
"There's a lot of codes that don't compare to the standard that we have in AFLW so it does create quite an exciting opportunity that draws people from all backgrounds in."
Australian Football in New Zealand
As television coverage in New Zealand of the AFLW increases AFLNZ is wanting to see even more women competing across the ditch.
"There's a wealth of untapped New Zealand talent yet to be discovered, painting a bright future for New Zealand within the AFLW," AFLNZ spokesman Alastair Maisey says.
New Zealand's Emma Collins in the New Zealand Youth Girls v Mornington Youth Girls, AFL NZ in Wellington in 2018. Photo: John Cowpland / www.photosport.nz
On the ground in New Zealand Maisey says the women's game is experiencing "promising growth".
The number of female players across the nation has more than doubled over the past three years, with players actively participating in the local leagues across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
AFLNZ introduced their own pathway for women in 2019 with the AFL Women's Premiership. The Premiership season expanded this year with the introduction of three new teams aligning with the men's Premiership competition.
Maisey says the Premiership is regarded as an ideal platform for women to nurture their skills and "unearth exceptional talent within New Zealand".
Next year the Premiership aims to further enhance the quality of Women's AFL, preparing players for the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the first Women's and U18 girls team to participate at an international tournament.