Western Bulldogs captain Ellie Blackburn says she is hopeful the upcoming AFLW season can carry momentum from the FIFA Womens World Cup, as her team prepares for a round one clash against Geelong.
The 2023 NAB AFLW Season will kick off next week, with the Dogs to meet the Cats at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.
Blackburn said harnessing the excitement generated by the Matildas ahead of the AFLW season proper will go a long way.
“Everyone’s excited at the moment, particularly off the back of sort of the Women’s World Cup and the excitement that’s generated,” she told 7news.com.au at the AFLW Captains Day on Monday.
“There’s an excitement around women’s sports at the moment, so I think we’re utilising that as much as possible, and the group’s pumped.
“It’s just seeing the sport for what it is. I think what was a really big selling area in the Matildas - and not just them but the World Cup itself – is that people took gender out of it, and they just started watching sport.
“They watched the Matildas play, and that’s how it was labelled.
“I think that in itself was something that was exciting for them.
“Hopefully, we can utilise that as much as possible within the AFL space and talk about it - that we’re just watching these footballers play in competition.
“We’re not playing alongside the men, we’re playing in our own competition.
“So watch it and talk about it for what it is and see the game for what it is … and hopefully that generates a lot of excitement for the game itself.”
Exiting last year’s finals series by five points, Blackburn is keen to go one better in her fifth season as standalone skipper.
“It’s good fun being part of our leadership group - for us, it’s about getting more exposure to our younger leaders and building them up and trying to generate our next group or next crop of leaders in that space,” she said.
“Then as a whole leadership group, it’s about harnessing everything that we’ve worked on as a group and bringing that to fruition as a group.
“(We’re) trying to instil our values and keep that accountability and consistency piece across the board and generate a fair bit of excitement around the season.
“I’m excited. It’s been a long time coming, obviously between games, so I can’t wait to get started.
“Round 1 against Geelong is obviously very exciting, and I’m looking forward to having games back at Whitten.”
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