AFLW #4 - Maddy Prespakis - four for four

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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 — Essendon. Plus, her brutal start to life as a Bomber.

The warm trickle running down Madison Prespakis’ 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 – 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 club’s Tullamarine base wasn’t 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.

“I put an Essendon training top on for the first time, and that was pretty cool, and came in and did skills,” Prespakis said.

“At 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.

“We’re pretty much the same height 
 we just headbutted. It’s like every other contest I’ve been a part of, but when I ran off, I felt the blood starting to stream down.”

There’s six stitches in her right brow, now, with the 21-year-old hoping that any scarring is minimal.

“It’s pretty much a warm welcome,” she laughed.

“I realised, this is what it’s going to be like.

“Mum and Dad just said, you’ll never forget your first training day there.”

When Prespakis’ pre-season — the Bombers’ first as an AFLW outfit — kicks off next week, there’ll 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 – who claimed her medal in lockdown at home, no less – 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.

“I initially turned down the idea of expressing interest with other clubs. I thought I was always going to be a Carlton girl,” she told the Herald Sun.

“But I really haven’t been this happy for a while. This is the happy version of Maddy that I haven’t felt in the last 12 months.”

The aftermath of the league’s top gong had taken some navigating, with Prespakis admitting she failed to “prime myself, physically or mentally” 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.

“I never want to let people down or hurt people in any way,” Prespakis said.

“Having to leave a club was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

“Over the last season or two I probably hadn’t performed the way I wanted to, and I probably hit a stagnant point after my 2020 season.

“I didn’t really know what was next for me. I was only 19, Covid happened 
 I just didn’t know what to do and I didn’t feel like I was improving as a player and person.

“If 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.

“The decision ended up coming down to what was best for myself.”

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.

“That’s when the decisions had to be made, and I was still weighing it up,” she said.

“I rang mum and dad and was a little bit emotional and said ‘I don’t know what to do – I don’t want to let people down’.

“I 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 ‘I want to do it – I want to be a part of Essendon’.

“Once that was done and I’d actually said it out in the open, I was like ‘wow, that’s it’.”

She rang her now-former teammates. “The majority” were understanding, she said.

“It was a rough time.

“I never saw myself doing it.

“But once the decision was made, it was nice to feel happy.”

The lifelong Bombers fan who wore Jobe Watson and Paddy Ryder’s 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 – and Prespakis, who is determined to leave a legacy in the women’s game, is hoping to do the same.

“First, we build our team and put it on the park,” she said.

“(The mentality) isn’t ‘first year, it’s a bit of a let-off’. We want to make our mark and be known.

“Then after that a huge goal is a grand final. Individual things are great, but nothing would beat a medal around my neck.”

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ONE OF US!

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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 Essendon’s Tullamarine headquarters for the first time alongside her best friend, she shed a tear of joy and, equally, relief.

It was the “daunting” yet emotional moment when her bombshell move from the Blues had truly sunk in – 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 – one of four new AFLW teams – for season seven without each other’s knowledge. While they’ve been close friends and teammates for years, they hadn’t openly discussed the possibility of them both moving from the Blues to the Bombers ahead of the latter’s 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.

“We rang each other when they announced the trade,” Prespakis told foxfooty.com.au as part of a YoPRO promotion. “We hadn’t spoken too much of it because it’s obviously our own decision, but we rang and said we both really wanted to do it.

“It was an emotional moment. We walked into Essendon for the first time together and just gave each other a hug and thought ‘holy sh*t, like this is our next journey’.”

Signing with Essendon was particularly significant for Prespakis – a lifelong Bombers fan that grew up with James Hird as her hero and Paddy Ryder’s 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.

“There’d always been questions previous years in case we came into the competition about ‘what would your emotions be’ and things like that,” she said.

“I said no to them a couple of times and didn’t really want to entertain the situation of talking to them. But once I ended up saying ‘yes’, I walked through the doors and I was just like ‘oh wow’.

“It 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.”

REASONS BEHIND BOMBSHELL MOVE

Prespakis – one of the best AFLW players – admits she “hadn’t enjoyed footy as much as I wanted to or had always felt when I played” across the previous 12 months.

She’d won the competition’s Rising Star award in her first year then its best and fairest award “out of nowhere” in 2020 as a 19-year-old. But, by her own admission, her output at Carlton plateaued over the next two seasons – and that was despite winning the Blues’ club champion award in 2022.

“I love the Bombers and I’ve supported them my whole life, but that wasn’t kind of a reason I moved,” she said. “For me, it was a big individual thing.

“I 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 ‘what more can you do’ and things like that. I felt the pressure of that, but I was also just at a bit of a standstill point. I didn’t know what was next for me and it definitely did impact the way I prepared for my footy.

“Upon reflection, I probably didn’t have the (2022) season I wanted to have. Like a (club) BNF and things like that probably reflect differently, but personally I didn’t feel I hit the goals that I wanted to.”

Prespakis stresses her departure from Ikon Park was not out of bitterness, declaring there’s “definitely no hate towards Carlton”.

And it certainly wasn’t cash-motivated.

“Obviously there’s a lot of speculation in terms of ‘was it for money or this or that’ – and quite frankly Carlton’s offer was bigger than Essendon’s,” she said. “I kind of laughed at the media when it came out like that.

“It was just a thing I had to do for me to better my footy.

“For me, if I was to stay at Carlton, definitely a reason would’ve been for my teammates and my friends. I love the girls and enjoyed playing with them for four years and we’ve 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 – and I feel like I’ve connected really well with my new coach.”

Despite her youth, Prespakis’ 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.

“I’m only 21, so I want to be the best player I can be for the next 10 years,” Prespakis said.

“I’d love to be able to leave a legacy like Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce – and being part of Essendon, they’d be able to help me do that.

“Also being a supporter is very special too, so being able to be a part of the first team is something that I definitely don’t take for granted.

“I think to start afresh with a new club, I’m pretty excited for it. I’m just itching to get into the club and start putting on the uniform and being part of the club officially.”

Madison Prespakis after being announced as the 2020 AFLW Best and Fairest winner. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
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

‘MAKE FINALS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE’

Prespakis’ Bombers, too, could make an immediate impact – 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 club’s inaugural AFLW signing was its VFLW co-captain Georgia Nanscawen, who in 2021 claimed the VFLW’s highest individual honour – the Lambert-Pearce Medal – and was named captain of the 2021 competition’s team of the year.

“It’s really exciting,” Prespakis said. “To be able to play with G (Gee), go to Essendon together and be able to start a new chapter together is something that I can’t wait for.

“Steph Cain is a huge pick-up. Everyone knows what she can do and what she has done for the last six years at Freo. I’m excited to play with Bonnie Toogood and Sophie Van De Heuvel – I had a little bit to do with her in the Under 18s.

“A lot of our recruits have had an impact where they’ve played, so to be able to secure them is just incredible.”

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 “big picture” and what this new team could achieve.

When the Bombers pitched to Prespakis, they declared they wouldn’t be making up the numbers in their first season – a prospect that strongly appealed to the star midfielder.

”I think the first thing Essendon showed me was just they don’t want to take it like they’re an expansion club. They want to go in like a bull at a gate,” she said.

“Our 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.

“The way they’ve gone out in the off-season and recruited has been pretty extraordinary, to be honest. They’ve done a really good job and to finally see it out on the field last week was just exciting.

“Obviously like any club when you’re starting new, there’s the culture perspective and things like that. But I’m pretty confident with the group that we’ve built, it’ll link in with how we play footy as a team.

“The aim is definitely not to take it easy. We want to make our mark. We’re an inaugural team, which is pretty exciting, but I think we want to start our first year pretty heavy.”

PLAN TO RETURN TO AFLW’S ELITE

Prespakis’ output will have a huge say in how quick Essendon’s 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 “get ahead of the pack”.

That, as well as a stronger focus on nutrition, has paid dividends to date.

Madison Prespakis has moved from Carlton to Essendon.
Madison Prespakis has moved from Carlton to Essendon.Source: Supplied

“Those who know me know obviously I’m not necessarily a natural athlete,” she said. “So I’ve taken a bit more of a step in terms of nutrition and being able to train in different ways this off-season.

“I’ve done more running to be able to cover the ground as best as I can, but I’m training one-on-one with someone at the moment and doing completely different training to what I’ve done recently. It’s pretty awesome.

“Also being able to learn different things in terms of the way I eat – it’s probably something I’ve learned in the past, but I haven’t knuckled down enough on it. I live alone now, so it’s something that I actually have to focus on. It’s been pretty cool in the off-season to put some time into that and what I’m buying, what I’m eating on training days and off-days and cooking for myself.

“I’ve felt great every time I’ve got up to go to train in the morning. I’m really energised and recovered really well, so I think that I put my best foot forward going into pre-season.

“Now all the running part’s done, you’ve got to keep it up knowing there’s a bit more ball work – which I’m excited for, because I’d rather do all the skill stuff than the running, that’s for sure.”

On the importance of nutrition and hitting your macros, Prespakis said: “It’s 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.

“You can wake up and you can feel terrible, but if you feel in your body well, then you’re waking up and your body feels like it’s been properly nourished.

“At the moment I’m not the best at it or the most perfect person, but I’m finding ways to be able to hit nutritional goals within what I want to do going forward.”

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Ben Waterworth from Fox Sports is possibly both very clever and completely confused.

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Well, der!

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Ranked #19 in the league by Sarah Black.

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The NINA hair wins, though.

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Geez, she can play

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JET

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■■■■■■■ giant gun on wheels.

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Big bodied mid we’ve been crying out for

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Absolute gun

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Nino would love her.

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Please commence gender transformation and help our mens team.

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Female meatball.

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My favourite! What a fantastic pick up.

The fact that she ■■■■■■ Carlton off to join us because she’s a Don’s supporter is an extra bonus.

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Has no head according to male loser in Fluor.

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Can she play for both mens and women’s team?

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