Probable number is 23; may play this Saturday in the first VFLW game.
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Headline is very old news, but still interesting.
By Sarah Black
THE FINAL year of junior footy for Essendon recruit Amy Gaylor came crashing down around her when she hyper-extended her knee and suffered a suspected ACL injury.
In fact, up until the moment the surgeon was looking at the inside of Gaylor’s knee, everyone believed she had experienced the dreaded 12-month blow.
“It’s quite a wild story. I got scans of my knee and they came back that the surgeon was 95 per cent sure I’d done an ACL, so I was pretty certain. School holidays were two months away, so I sat around for a while, then eventually went into surgery,” Gaylor told AFL.com.au.
"He cut me open, and they looked, and my ACL was intact, completely fine. It turned out to be a slight meniscus tear, and that was it.
"I got out of surgery and was still half-out of it with the drugs. The surgeon told me it turned out the ACL was okay. You’re kidding me.
"Mum came into the room, and I was like, ‘Mum, guess what? It’s still intact’. And she said, 'what are you on about? You’ve got no clue, you’re still out of it.’
"I was lifting up my leg to show her, and she said, ‘oh ■■■■, they’ve done the wrong leg’. But yeah, just quite a wild story.
"So, I was back within six weeks after surgery and was able to get in the last Vic Metro game, which was really good.”
Gaylor missed around three months in total, but having come through the Calder Cannons talent pathway, was eligible for pre-selection by Essendon through the expansion club assistance package.
In hindsight, it meant those months on the sidelines hadn’t affected her chances of being drafted.
“After the year I’d had with my injury, I had a bit of doubt about the draft. It was such a nice feeling that Essendon had that belief in me to pick me up early,” Gaylor said.
"I was just so thankful that I was able to be pre-signed. I know going into the draft, I would have been absolutely crapping myself. It was really good to just sit back on the night and watch all my friends get drafted.”
The Bombers took part in a searching pre-season camp a few weeks ago, heading down to HMAS Cerberus, the Australian Navy’s training base on the Mornington Peninsula.
“We spent the weekend running through a bit of what they do down there. We did a bit of Navy stuff, like jumping off a sinking ship, facing heights and all that,” Gaylor said.
"Did some high ropes courses, even a smoke walk, so a lot of different experiences, but it was a great opportunity to connect with teammates. For me, coming in as a new draftee, it is really good experience.
"The smoke walk was pretty crazy. They had us put on these face masks that had oxygen tanks connected to it, and they chucked us in a room that was fully smoked, so you couldn’t see even if someone put a hand in front of your face. They had us go in groups, and we had to walk around and find a ‘casualty’. That was pretty terrifying, but it was a weird experience, definitely. Our group were all holding onto each other for dear life.”
Gaylor played netball and basketball in her early sporting years, swapping to football with Strathmore when she was 14, a suburb smack bang in between Essendon’s Tullamarine base and its home AFLW ground of Windy Hill.
She’s now started a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne, with an eye to focusing on biology and physiology (rather than engineering or physics) and has found her feet quickly at Essendon, impressing teammates and staff with her attitude and rapid adaptation to professional standards.
“I think all three clubs that we (Essendon draftees Gaylor, Chloe Adams and Emily Gough) have come from have got that professionalism. Especially in the past few years, I think the environment’s really stepped up, and they’ve been putting a lot of resources into the women’s side of the comp,” Gaylor said.
"So yeah, 100 per cent I think the past two years in the Coates League has definitely helped.
“But I think it also is a credit to the people that we are, just with great work ethics and willingness to learn. I guess coming into an environment [like Essendon], and they’ve just been great in kind of slowly transitioning us to that AFLW level.”
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Turns out Amy’s childhood netball coach is a co-worker. Made the point that her mark of the year contender with the turned hand was very much a netball move.
Vote early and vote often:
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ESSENDON’S Amy Gaylor has been named the Week Six Telstra AFLW Rising Star nominee.
The defender had 15 disposals at 73 per cent efficiency, along with four tackles, three marks and six intercepts in Wednesday’s three-point win against the Sydney Swans.
She then backed it up in the Bombers’ win over the Gold Coast SUNS on Sunday with 11 disposals at 91 per cent efficiency. The 19-year-old also took six marks (three contested) and six intercepts in the club’s third consecutive win.
The Bombers currently sit in seventh and Gaylor has featured in every match this season. Gaylor is averaging more than 10 disposals, 2.6 marks and 2.7 tackles per game.
She was taken by Essendon as an expansion pre-signing ahead of the 2023 draft from the Calder Cannons.
Gaylor played junior footy with Strathmore – a suburb nestled between Windy Hill and Essendon’s training base in Tullamarine.
She becomes the first [Essendon] player to be nominated for the award since Amber Clarke received the nod in Round Six, 2023.
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Her kicking is a thing of beauty!
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Nominated for the AFL Players “Best first year player” award.
Incredible season.
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Did any other first year players make the 22under22 squad but not team?
And why the hell is it 22 when named teams are 21?
Because 21under22 sounds not as cool.
Only the last few paragraphs are new.
Elsewhere listed as a Fantasy breakout (I know) alongside the likes of Fleming and Ham.
Amy Gaylor might have had a stunning debut season, but she refuses to get complacent heading into her second NAB AFLW season.
Signed as a priority selection by Essendon as part of the expansion list build rules, she played a crucial part in the club’s run to a second consecutive finals series despite a spate of injuries to key players.
Initially, Gaylor was prepared to play as a forward – a new position for her after playing in the midfield as a junior – but on the eve of the season head coach Natalie Wood threw a spanner in the works.
“Something we often joke about, me and ‘Woody’, I actually trained the whole preseason forward which, yeah, my whole junior career (I) had never played forward, but I trusted her,” Gaylor told AFL.com.au.
"And then I think it got to maybe the night before, or the day of our intraclub, we had a couple of injuries and she thought, 'I quite like your marking ability, I’d love to see you down back’.
"So, from then on, played my game in the intraclub, and she loved me back there, and then I ended up playing most of the season (at) half back and then played a couple of games on the wing as well.
"I did get thrown around quite a bit, but I’m actually quite grateful now that I did have that. I guess now I have that versatility.”
Gaylor has relished the opportunity to try different things, offering the team what it needs in the moment, especially because there was a world where she wasn’t playing any footy in 2024.
At the start of her draft year of 2023, while in year 12 at high school, she went down with a knee injury. It was originally diagnosed as a dreaded ACL injury, before surgery showed something else.
“At the start of the year I had a knee injury, and the scans showed that it was a potential ACL, and then went into surgery about two months later. Turns out it was intact somehow, and I then I think it was (a) six-week recovery from surgery, and then I managed to get back for the last Metro game,” Gaylor said.
"It was an interesting season, and I kind of always knew in the back of my head that Essendon had those pre-signing picks, but you just never know, especially when you’re injured, you’re not out on the track, you never really know how the season’s going to go.”
While that certainty ahead of draft night was a huge positive for Gaylor, it did mean she missed out on the nerves and excitement coming into draft night. But she was locked in to join the likes of Maddy Prespakis and Bonnie Toogood at the Bombers.
“You couldn’t ask for a better role model,” Gaylor said of Prespakis.
"I remember she was in my interview with Essendon, and her just walking in, I was kind of starstruck. Like, this is my new teammate, but yeah I’ve never met a more composed footballer … and she’s just been a great role model to look at, just her craft, all of that.”
Gaylor earned a Telstra Rising Star nomination for her week six performance against Sydney, with 15 disposals and six intercepts in the club’s three-point win. Her composure caught the eye of fans and media alike across the season, which resulted in her third-placed finish in the Rising Star votes at season’s end, behind Port Adelaide duo Matilda Scholz and Shineah Goody.
“I felt throughout the season that my confidence kept building game by game. I was taking riskier kicks, backing myself in the one-on-one contest, stuff like that. And yeah, it definitely helped me flourish as a player, having that Rising Star nom as well,” Gaylor said.
"It’s pretty outstanding, when you hear the two people that were above me, like, outstanding players. But I’ve kind of set a standard for myself now, I’ve had a great first year, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to come in the second year.
“So, it’s about not being complacent, I guess, but still working. I know I’ve got that potential now, and I’m building on that year I had.”
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Please, Nat Wood, no backline/forwardline for Gaylor anymore.
She’s a mid. A rare one who can win it herself and beat teams up on the outside. Just play her there.
Gaylor, Belloni and Prespakis/Nanscawen are a genuine top level midfield combo, especially if Wales continues her previous rate of growth as a ruck once back.
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To get the usual suspect(s) in, is 20yo today.
Time to conquer the world.
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Is a good chance to be future Bombers AFLW Captain.