Ararat Storm product Georgia Clarke lived out a dream on Saturday night as she made her first appearance in the AFLW.
Clarke stepped out for Geelong in the round two clash against premiers the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval.
Although it wasn’t the start to Clarke’s career as she would have liked. The Bulldogs proved too difficult to handle when they scored 5.4 (34) to Geelong’s 2.4 (16).
Team performance aside, Clarke would have one moment that she will never forget in the famous blue and white hoops.
She kicked her first goal in the AFLW – and the Cats’ second on the run – during the third quarter.
“I don’t fully remember (scoring the goal),” Clarke said.
“I saw there was plenty of space in front and I thought, ‘why not I will just run into it’ and I just seemed to be in the right spot at the right time.
“I wasn’t entirely going for goal; I was more going for (key forward) Phoebe (McWilliams), but with the wind behind it, it carried over her head and bounced through.
“It surprised me.”
Clarke said she was initially named as an emergency but was given the chance when she replaced Nina Morrison, who suffered an ACL inquiry at training leading up the game.
“I found out on Friday at 11am (that I would be playing),” she said.
“Running out on the field, it was all a blur and I can’t really remember too much of it. I zoned out the crowd.
“It was a pretty awesome feeling running out. Unfortunately it wasn’t a home game, so there wasn’t as much cheer as we got last week, but it still felt special.”
Clarke said the feeling in the changerooms before the game helped calm her nerves because she knew her teammates.
“It feels calm in the rooms with all the teammates that you have been training with for the past two to three months,” she said.
“But as soon as you step out on that field and the banner goes up and the song starts, your heart gets racing and then you start feeling pretty nervous.”
Clarke said the Bulldogs were a very physical team compared to Collingwood, who the Cats had faced a week before.
“The Bulldogs were just everywhere,” she said.
“The girls said that Collingwood were more aggressive at the ball compared to the Bulldogs.”
Geelong travels to Adelaide to play the inaugural winners, the Adelaide Crows, at Norwood Oval on Sunday.
