New Crow Abbie Ballard has clocked up many kilometers on her path to an AFLW list.
Ballard lives with her family on a sheep, pig and crop farm in Coomandook — a town almost two hours out of Adelaide with a population of 130 people.
Since earning her SANFLW debut with West Adelaide four years ago, Ballard has made the 139km drive to Adelaide and back three times a week — twice for training and on game day.
But that paid off for Ballard when she became one of three new Crows to join the nest on Tuesday night, after Adelaide selected her with pick No.34 at the AFLW Draft.
The 160cm small forward/midfielder, renowned for her accurate left foot kicking, is set to move away to Adelaide next month.
The 19-year-old said being drafted to the Crows was a “dream come true” and her family would have one less helping hand on the farm.
“I can’t describe the feeling, it’s amazing,” Ballard, who finished third in the agility test at the AFLW Draft Combine, said.
“I work full time on the farm and my day-to-day jobs are feeding animals, helping out with breeding programs and I help out seeding at harvest time and driving tractors.
“But I am looking at moving in August and I can’t wait to get better and learn a lot of skills from all the girls who are in the team.
“I’ve worked so hard for this so it’s great to be able to get there and show what I can do.”
Ballard’s football career began when she followed her brother at Peake & District in the Mallee Football League.
West’s country zone recruiters soon discovered her talent and Ballard made her debut for the Bloods’ SANFLW team at 15 years old.
But her 2021 season was almost derailed after she suffered a syndesmosis injury in her ankle during a pre-season trial game for West Adelaide and spent three months on the sidelines.
The Bloods vice-captain returned in the latter part of the SANFLW season and stood in as skipper in West’s Grand Final loss to Glenelg.
“I missed half the season with an injury and that put me back a bit so I thought I was going to miss an opportunity to get picked up,” Ballard said.
“But I came back and showed I could still be a good footballer.
“My rehab included a lot of gym stuff, just strengthening my calves and my ankles, that was the first bit and then running and riding a bike to get my fitness back.
“It was really hard to sit there and watch as I’ve never missed that much football in my life but being drafted after being out is now definitely even sweeter.”
