Of the three Northern girls in line to be picked up in the AFLW draft on Wednesday, Georgia Hill’s path to football has perhaps been the most unlikely.
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While fellow draft hopefuls and Launceston teammates Courtney Webb and Daria Bannister grew up playing cricket and netball respectively, Hill spent her childhood on the dancefloor.
“Before I played footy I did ballet actually so that’s a bit different,” Hill said.
“I was doing that for 10 years and in my first year of football I was still dancing and then it kind of got a bit hard - I was getting injured in footy and then I couldn’t dance so my dance teacher was getting a bit annoyed at that.
“But I (thought) ‘I’ve done dancing for a while now so I’ll have a big crack at footy’.
“I gave it a crack and it actually came pretty naturally - I’ve stuck at it and it’s got me this far.”
A utility player who can swing between key forward posts and centre half-back, Hill played her first two years at Evandale before making the move to Launceston for the 2017 season.
The 18-year-old dominated at TSLW level and was named in her side’s best players eight times from 14 games this year, including the grand final where she was pipped for best-on-ground honours by Webb.
Like Webb and Bannister, the journey to top-flight football has come rapidly for Hill, who has already represented the state and played in the national under-18 carnival in just her third year in the sport.
But the former Launceston College student says she wouldn’t be disappointed should she have to wait another year before getting picked up by an AFLW club.
“I (wouldn’t be) at all disheartened by that because there’s just so much talent and I’m just going to be so happy for everyone who gets through.
“But I’m definitely looking forward to the next couple of years and I’ll keep it up and get myself ready for that.”
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While Hill will be at work when the newest batch of AFLW players are selected at midday Wednesday, fellow 18-year-old Bannister will be perched firmly in front of the draft live stream.
Between 40 and 50 names are expected to be called out, with Victorian clubs holding nine of the first 14 picks.
“I’ll be holding on to the phone just shaking and waiting for the name - it’s a waiting game and we’ll wait and see,” the forward-midfielder said.
“I nominated for Victoria for more options but I don’t mind where I go as long as I go.”
Webb, who said her draft chances were “about 50-50”, also nominated for Victoria, which accounts for four of the eight AFLW clubs taking the field in 2018.
Should any of Webb, Bannister or Hill miss out on being drafted by a Victorian club on Wednesday, other interstate clubs can pounce during the free agency period on Thursday and Friday.
The eight clubs will then be able to select up to three players in the rookie draft on Friday before the pre-season gets under way on November 13.
The 2018 AFLW season will take place in February and March.