CENTRAL Allies midfielder Teagan Usher credits her football development with Woodville-West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League Women’s (SANFLW) competition. In her eight games this year, Usher averaged 9.8 disposals, 2.3 marks, 1.0 clearance and 1.5 tackles in what was a challenging but ultimately rewarding season for the 158cm onballer.

“SANFLW is a big step up from the local level I was playing at,” Usher said. “It’s a lot more game plan and there’s a lot more skill involved so when you’re versing local clubs it tends to be a harder and more physical competition because people are not taught to go into contests correctly, but with SANFLW you’re taught the correct way to go and pick up the ball you’re less likely to get hurt and stuff like that but it’s just a physically harder competition and mentally as well.”

While her side failed to pick up a win in its inaugural SANFLW season, Usher said it was an eye-opening experience with the amount of work that went into pre-season and getting right to play against senior bodies and the best talent in South Australia.

“It’s a lot of work mentally doing preseason and physically pushing your body, because your body can go more, but it’s your mind that stops you,” Usher said. “So I found that that’s quite a hard part for me in preseason because I’d never done a preseason like that and the strength and conditioning was quite mentally tough for me, pushing through it. “And just the game side of things, I found it a bit hard to get my head around the whole structure part because I’d never learned anything like that before. “But yeah, it’s a great competition.”

Like many AFL Women’s Under 18s players who spoke to us, Usher came from a different sporting background, shooting hoops before she was laying tackles.

“Very early on I played basketball just at a district club level,” Usher said. “It started becoming less popular to play and I played for a school footy carnival and a lot of the girls tried to get me out to play for a local club, so I decided to start playing and I didn’t think anything of it and then from there I got selected to play Under 17s for Woodville-West Torrens. “From there got selected to play state so that’s where everything kind of took off and then just got into SANFLW state league again and now Central Allies.”

Having already tasted the difference between local league football and the SANFLW, Usher said the AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships was a different ball game again with the way matches were played. In her three games on the Gold Coast, the 18-year-old averaged 9.3 disposals, 1.7 marks, 2.7 tackles, 1,0 clearances and 1.3 rebounds rotating through the midfield and defensive half of the side.

“It’s (championships) similar (to SANFLW) in a way but it’s not, I think the biggest difference is probably the age gaps we’re playing against, we’re playing against younger girls whereas in SANFLW we’re playing against older girls but I think it’s a very similar type of competition, but there’s more game plan and skill involved in state champs, definitely.”

Throughout the championships, Usher showed a desire to hunt the football and the opposition carrying it, an aspect of her game she said is a strength. With many of her opponents taller than her, Usher has found a way to use her height to her advantage at ground level.

“So my biggest strength has always been my contested ball,” Usher said. “No matter who I’m versing, whoever I come up against I’m five foot nothing and they’re six foot three I’ll put up a fight to get the ball definitely, probably on the ground is my strongest point. “I’m always in under the ball, getting ball out to my teammates and going from there.”

For Usher, the next stage in her development is working on her “short 45 kicks” and making good decisions with ball-in-hand which has been an area of focus. Her father has been a huge influence on Usher and she credits her development through the football pathways over the journey with his support and resilience.

“He’s a very very big role model for me, he used to play footy when he was younger, played in a much tougher competition than me because he’s quite a bit older,” Usher said. “But he’s had so many injuries, and he’s always pushed through and his mentality to keep pushing through things is just – it blows my mind how he gets through every single day.”

Running out for Central Allies at the championships was Usher’s highest achievement to date, and something she said is a “big responsibility wearing the badge and it’s also a big honour”. Now she has her sights set on even bigger goals.

“[My] ultimate goal would obviously be making AFLW one day,” Usher said. “But I’m a very ‘take it day by day’ kind of person, so got into state and then I just kind of worked on it there, and then did what I needed to do and I got into Allies and work through it day by day and hopefully get to AFLW one day.”