Georgia Clayden has spent most of her life playing sports in Canberra, having excelled in netball and volleyball growing up. But it's in AFLW with the Gold Coast Suns that she is aiming to make the biggest splash.
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This week the Suns announced Clayden as one of three mature-age signings ahead of the AFLW Draft on June 29.
The defender has only been playing Aussie Rules at an elite level for three years with Ainslie Football Club in the AFL Canberra's first-grade competition before being recruited by the Suns for the upcoming season.
"I'm incredibly excited to reach the pinnacle of AFL," Clayden told The Canberra Times. "My next goal from here is to get that starting spot. I know I'm going to have to work pretty hard to earn that, so I'll have to work hard in the preseason."
The Suns will assemble for preseason training on June 13, but Clayden won't join them until a week later, tying up some loose ends with her job outside of footy as a physiotherapist in the capital, before relocating to Queensland.
"It all happened super quickly. In a lot of ways it wasn't planned and then when the opportunity came up, I just jumped on it," Clayden said.
"One, I would love to get out of the Canberra winter, but two, I love the Gold Coast. My grandparents had a holiday house around the area so I've been going there as a kid since before I can remember.
"It's very surreal. I've been in high-level sport for quite a long time and it's always something I've been working towards."
In her corner is former AFLW player and Ainslie coach Britt Tully who has been a mentor to Clayden throughout her short Aussie Rules career.
"She's been super supportive, and she's always given me little words of advice along the way," the 27-year-old said. "We've always talked about how excited we are for little girls growing up that this is an AFLW career for them now. When I grew up, it wasn't.
"I'm also humbled and thankful to all the women who have paved the way for me to be here now."
Clayden also praised the Ainslie community for their support and said her teammates are already planning a footy trip up to the Gold Coast to cheer her on in her first game with the Suns.
"They were talking about getting shirts made," Clayden said.
"Hopefully with the Suns we can have an awesome season and then I'll see where that takes me. But if all goes well, I'd love to be at this for for a while to come."
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Melanie Dinjaski
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
