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AFLW news: Madison Prespakis on her move from Carlton to Essendon
Madison Prespakis has revealed the emotional toll of committing to leave Carlton to join the club she has always loved â Essendon. Plus, her brutal start to life as a Bomber.
The warm trickle running down Madison Prespakisâ right temple was the dead giveaway.
It was last week that Prespakis first donned red and black as she prepares to begin life as a Bomber â a childhood dream coming to life in real time.
A session last week to properly meet new teammates, catch up with new coach Nat Wood, and grow familiar with the surroundings of the clubâs Tullamarine base wasnât intended to spill blood, but it might just be a sign of how hard the former Blue intends to go at things right from the moment pre-season starts this Monday.
âI put an Essendon training top on for the first time, and that was pretty cool, and came in and did skills,â Prespakis said.
âAt the end, we did some competitive tackling and I was trying to break through a tackle when (teammate) Jordan Zanchetta picked up the ball and turned right into me.
âWeâre pretty much the same height ⊠we just headbutted. Itâs like every other contest Iâve been a part of, but when I ran off, I felt the blood starting to stream down.â
Thereâs six stitches in her right brow, now, with the 21-year-old hoping that any scarring is minimal.
âItâs pretty much a warm welcome,â she laughed.
âI realised, this is what itâs going to be like.
âMum and Dad just said, youâll never forget your first training day there.â
When Prespakisâ pre-season â the Bombersâ first as an AFLW outfit â kicks off next week, thereâll be the stitches in tow.
But the weight of agony she has carried in recent months as she weighed up her playing future is no longer bearing down.
Prespakis, the 2020 AFLW best and fairest winner â who claimed her medal in lockdown at home, no less â had been grappling with what she felt like had been change at Carlton, combined with a sense of languishing in her football as she sat warmly inside her comfort zone.
âI initially turned down the idea of expressing interest with other clubs. I thought I was always going to be a Carlton girl,â she told the Herald Sun.
âBut I really havenât been this happy for a while. This is the happy version of Maddy that I havenât felt in the last 12 months.â
The aftermath of the leagueâs top gong had taken some navigating, with Prespakis admitting she failed to âprime myself, physically or mentallyâ for the season that followed as she sought her next step as a player.
Opening up for the first time on the emotional toll of the call, the midfield gun revealed it was a flood of tears and light bulb moment that proved to be the tipping point for her shift to Tullamarine.
âI never want to let people down or hurt people in any way,â Prespakis said.
âHaving to leave a club was probably the hardest thing Iâve ever had to do.
âOver the last season or two I probably hadnât performed the way I wanted to, and I probably hit a stagnant point after my 2020 season.
âI didnât really know what was next for me. I was only 19, Covid happened ⊠I just didnât know what to do and I didnât feel like I was improving as a player and person.
âIf I was to stay, it would have been because I loved the girls and the club ⊠but when I dug a bit deeper, I needed to put my head down and improve.
âThe decision ended up coming down to what was best for myself.â
The former Blue and 2019 rising star winner maintains she had still not made any decision as AFLW grand final week unfolded in April, before crunch time came once the Crows had lifted the cup.
âThatâs when the decisions had to be made, and I was still weighing it up,â she said.
âI rang mum and dad and was a little bit emotional and said âI donât know what to do â I donât want to let people downâ.
âI had a coffee with my manager one morning and I just let it all out and gave her the flood of tears. I just said âI want to do it â I want to be a part of Essendonâ.
âOnce that was done and Iâd actually said it out in the open, I was like âwow, thatâs itâ.â
She rang her now-former teammates. âThe majorityâ were understanding, she said.
âIt was a rough time.
âI never saw myself doing it.
âBut once the decision was made, it was nice to feel happy.â
The lifelong Bombers fan who wore Jobe Watson and Paddy Ryderâs numbers on her back as a kid, playing juniors at Romsey, brought her Nan to tears with the news, while her brother Jimmy is ecstatic as a through-and-through Don.
As Essendon celebrates its 150th year this weekend, the club is preparing to write a new chapter in its history with its first AFLW team â and Prespakis, who is determined to leave a legacy in the womenâs game, is hoping to do the same.
âFirst, we build our team and put it on the park,â she said.
â(The mentality) isnât âfirst year, itâs a bit of a let-offâ. We want to make our mark and be known.
âThen after that a huge goal is a grand final. Individual things are great, but nothing would beat a medal around my neck.â
ONE OF US!
Gun!
The Velcro Duo committed to EFC independent of each other?
She took a pay cut to get out of Pissy Park?
Wanted a better coach?
Won the FCFC B&F but felt she was playing poorly?
LOL, Fark Carlton is cooked.
When Maddy Prespakis walked into Essendonâs Tullamarine headquarters for the first time alongside her best friend, she shed a tear of joy and, equally, relief.
It was the âdauntingâ yet emotional moment when her bombshell move from the Blues had truly sunk in â and her love for the game had seemingly returned.
Weeks earlier, she and fellow Carlton star Georgia Gee had confirmed their commitment to the Bombers â one of four new AFLW teams â for season seven without each otherâs knowledge. While theyâve been close friends and teammates for years, they hadnât openly discussed the possibility of them both moving from the Blues to the Bombers ahead of the latterâs inaugural campaign.
So naturally, Prespakis and Gee were ecstatic when Essendon announced at the same time both players would join the club during the AFLW expansion signing period.
âWe rang each other when they announced the trade,â Prespakis told foxfooty.com.au as part of a YoPRO promotion. âWe hadnât spoken too much of it because itâs obviously our own decision, but we rang and said we both really wanted to do it.
âIt was an emotional moment. We walked into Essendon for the first time together and just gave each other a hug and thought âholy sh*t, like this is our next journeyâ.â
Signing with Essendon was particularly significant for Prespakis â a lifelong Bombers fan that grew up with James Hird as her hero and Paddy Ryderâs No.30 on the back of her red and black jumper. Then as she began to dominate as a junior on-baller, she looked up to Jobe Watson as the midfielder she wanted to emulate.
âThereâd always been questions previous years in case we came into the competition about âwhat would your emotions beâ and things like that,â she said.
âI said no to them a couple of times and didnât really want to entertain the situation of talking to them. But once I ended up saying âyesâ, I walked through the doors and I was just like âoh wowâ.
âIt was like a tear of joy, but I think a tear of relief as well. I felt like I kind of got drafted again and the excitement for footy came back.â
REASONS BEHIND BOMBSHELL MOVE
Prespakis â one of the best AFLW players â admits she âhadnât enjoyed footy as much as I wanted to or had always felt when I playedâ across the previous 12 months.
Sheâd won the competitionâs Rising Star award in her first year then its best and fairest award âout of nowhereâ in 2020 as a 19-year-old. But, by her own admission, her output at Carlton plateaued over the next two seasons â and that was despite winning the Bluesâ club champion award in 2022.
âI love the Bombers and Iâve supported them my whole life, but that wasnât kind of a reason I moved,â she said. âFor me, it was a big individual thing.
âI think I hit a bit of a stagnant part in my footy over the last 12 or so months where I was unsure. I was only 19 at the time (when she won the AFLW best and fairest) and being questioned about âwhat more can you doâ and things like that. I felt the pressure of that, but I was also just at a bit of a standstill point. I didnât know what was next for me and it definitely did impact the way I prepared for my footy.
âUpon reflection, I probably didnât have the (2022) season I wanted to have. Like a (club) BNF and things like that probably reflect differently, but personally I didnât feel I hit the goals that I wanted to.â
Prespakis stresses her departure from Ikon Park was not out of bitterness, declaring thereâs âdefinitely no hate towards Carltonâ.
And it certainly wasnât cash-motivated.
âObviously thereâs a lot of speculation in terms of âwas it for money or this or thatâ â and quite frankly Carltonâs offer was bigger than Essendonâs,â she said. âI kind of laughed at the media when it came out like that.
âIt was just a thing I had to do for me to better my footy.
âFor me, if I was to stay at Carlton, definitely a reason wouldâve been for my teammates and my friends. I love the girls and enjoyed playing with them for four years and weâve had some good team success and individual success along the way. But when I dug a little bit deeper, I felt that I needed a fresh start individually and to connect with a new coach â and I feel like Iâve connected really well with my new coach.â
Despite her youth, Prespakisâ move to Essendon is one she also makes with long-term goals in mind.
Team success, obviously, is priority No. 1. But becoming an AFLW great is also near the top of her agenda.
âIâm only 21, so I want to be the best player I can be for the next 10 years,â Prespakis said.
âIâd love to be able to leave a legacy like Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce â and being part of Essendon, theyâd be able to help me do that.
âAlso being a supporter is very special too, so being able to be a part of the first team is something that I definitely donât take for granted.
âI think to start afresh with a new club, Iâm pretty excited for it. Iâm just itching to get into the club and start putting on the uniform and being part of the club officially.â
Madison Prespakis after being announced as the 2020 AFLW Best and Fairest winner. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
âMAKE FINALS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLEâ
Prespakisâ Bombers, too, could make an immediate impact â if their inaugural list and their off-season recruiting is anything to go by.
As well as Prespakis and crafty goalkicker Gee, the Bombers have signed premiership Bulldog Bonnie Toogood, Collingwood utility Sophie Alexander and star Fremantle winger Steph Cain. They also picked up All-Australian and premiership Lion Jess Wuetschner, as well as Sophie Van De Heuvel (Geelong), Jacqui Vogt (St Kilda), Daria Bannister (North Melbourne) and Cat Phillips (St Kilda). The clubâs inaugural AFLW signing was its VFLW co-captain Georgia Nanscawen, who in 2021 claimed the VFLWâs highest individual honour â the Lambert-Pearce Medal â and was named captain of the 2021 competitionâs team of the year.
âItâs really exciting,â Prespakis said. âTo be able to play with G (Gee), go to Essendon together and be able to start a new chapter together is something that I canât wait for.
âSteph Cain is a huge pick-up. Everyone knows what she can do and what she has done for the last six years at Freo. Iâm excited to play with Bonnie Toogood and Sophie Van De Heuvel â I had a little bit to do with her in the Under 18s.
âA lot of our recruits have had an impact where theyâve played, so to be able to secure them is just incredible.â
Before pre-season training officially started, Prespakis took part in skills training with some of her new teammates. Those sessions gave her a glimpse of the âbig pictureâ and what this new team could achieve.
When the Bombers pitched to Prespakis, they declared they wouldnât be making up the numbers in their first season â a prospect that strongly appealed to the star midfielder.
âI think the first thing Essendon showed me was just they donât want to take it like theyâre an expansion club. They want to go in like a bull at a gate,â she said.
âOur first step would be to make finals as early as possible and to be able to do that you need a strong list to start off with. We just want to start off with a bang with a really strong team.
âThe way theyâve gone out in the off-season and recruited has been pretty extraordinary, to be honest. Theyâve done a really good job and to finally see it out on the field last week was just exciting.
âObviously like any club when youâre starting new, thereâs the culture perspective and things like that. But Iâm pretty confident with the group that weâve built, itâll link in with how we play footy as a team.
âThe aim is definitely not to take it easy. We want to make our mark. Weâre an inaugural team, which is pretty exciting, but I think we want to start our first year pretty heavy.â
PLAN TO RETURN TO AFLWâS ELITE
Prespakisâ output will have a huge say in how quick Essendonâs success will come.
In her 2020 best and fairest season, the ball magnet was ranked among the top 10 AFLW players for average disposals, contested possessions, clearances and inside 50s.
Anticipating the shorter timeframe between seasons six and seven, Prespakis stayed in Melbourne and started her own pre-season training campaign to âget ahead of the packâ.
That, as well as a stronger focus on nutrition, has paid dividends to date.
Madison Prespakis has moved from Carlton to Essendon.Source: Supplied
âThose who know me know obviously Iâm not necessarily a natural athlete,â she said. âSo Iâve taken a bit more of a step in terms of nutrition and being able to train in different ways this off-season.
âIâve done more running to be able to cover the ground as best as I can, but Iâm training one-on-one with someone at the moment and doing completely different training to what Iâve done recently. Itâs pretty awesome.
âAlso being able to learn different things in terms of the way I eat â itâs probably something Iâve learned in the past, but I havenât knuckled down enough on it. I live alone now, so itâs something that I actually have to focus on. Itâs been pretty cool in the off-season to put some time into that and what Iâm buying, what Iâm eating on training days and off-days and cooking for myself.
âIâve felt great every time Iâve got up to go to train in the morning. Iâm really energised and recovered really well, so I think that I put my best foot forward going into pre-season.
âNow all the running partâs done, youâve got to keep it up knowing thereâs a bit more ball work â which Iâm excited for, because Iâd rather do all the skill stuff than the running, thatâs for sure.â
On the importance of nutrition and hitting your macros, Prespakis said: âItâs the most important thing. You can do your recovery and you can run as much as you can and do gym, but obviously it comes down to the way you sleep and the way you eat and the solid nutrition and macros you are putting in your body.
âYou can wake up and you can feel terrible, but if you feel in your body well, then youâre waking up and your body feels like itâs been properly nourished.
âAt the moment Iâm not the best at it or the most perfect person, but Iâm finding ways to be able to hit nutritional goals within what I want to do going forward.â
Ben Waterworth from Fox Sports is possibly both very clever and completely confused.
Well, der!
Ranked #19 in the league by Sarah Black.
The NINA hair wins, though.
Geez, she can play
JET
â â â â â â â giant gun on wheels.
Big bodied mid weâve been crying out for
Absolute gun
Nino would love her.
Please commence gender transformation and help our mens team.
Female meatball.
My favourite! What a fantastic pick up.
The fact that she â â â â â â Carlton off to join us because sheâs a Donâs supporter is an extra bonus.
Has no head according to male loser in Fluor.
Can she play for both mens and womenâs team?