NOTHING beats home for Christmas, Erika O’Shea smiles, as she settles back into life in Macroom following her medal-winning exploits in the AFLW.
It’s a few weeks on from when O’Shea and North Melbourne Kangaroos won the grand final, beating the Brisbane Lions 39-9, as O’Shea became an Australian Football League Women’s Premiership champion.
This wasn’t an ordinary title-winning campaign either as the Roos went unbeaten, drawing one game against Geelong and winning the rest.
To put that achievement into context, no AFL team – men’s or women’s – ever went a season without defeat.
‘I don’t think it has sunk in yet. I’ve seen a few people, a few of my friends and they have definitely made a big deal out of it, which is lovely,’ the 22-year-old tells the Star Sport Podcast.
‘To go down in history and to be the first women’s team (in North Melbourne) to win it, it’s incredible. It is something that they held so highly out there as well because we are the first women’s team as an expansion club as well. We came into the competition late. To evolve the team, get everyone over and blend the team is incredible.
‘Even to go unbeaten, that doesn’t feel real either to say that. We drew that one game against Geelong. I think that showed us up in the middle of the season to be like “okay, we need to get our stuff together” and that made us work a lot harder at training.’
North Melbourne were in good form ahead of the grand final. They had beaten Brisbane earlier in the campaign (78-34) and won their preliminary final comprehensively, 78-21 against Port Adelaide. But former Cork footballer O’Shea and co weren’t getting carried away heading into the decider – they knew they had to produce a great display to beat the 2023 champions.
‘I was terrified going into that final because we lost to Brisbane last year and they gave us a hard beating (44-27). For us, we had that fear at the back of our heads. It did drive us on in the end but it could have gone either way. It would have either driven a team on or completely sent them backwards. We were lucky that it just drove us on,’ O’Shea said.
‘The AFLW competition is still so new. It has only been in eight years. Every year, it is getting that step harder for everyone. Since I came into the competition three years ago, there is a huge difference between fitness and physicality. I think in the next couple of years, it is going to keep stepping up and up, which is good but it is making everything a lot more tense,’ O’Shea explains.
While O’Shea reflects on one of the best years in her young career, the Macroom native explains she still has a lot more to achieve, both in AFLW and ladies football.
‘I do think I want to play (AFLW) for another few years. I have signed until 2026. I got a contract extension, which was nice, but I do really want to go back to Cork and finish out playing in All-Ireland finals hopefully,’ she says.
‘A win in an All-Ireland final with Cork in the future, it is something I always dreamed of as well. We just fell short just before I left for Aussie Rules a couple of years ago. I’m hoping to go back at some stage definitely.
‘I have no set plan yet (to come back to the Cork team). I am just playing everything by year. I am only just home, just off the plane. I’m going to see in a couple of weeks, wind down and reevaluate on what I am going to do.’
