POPPY STOCKWELL LOCKED INTO FOOTY

Jackson Barrett
The West Australian
Sun, 13 October 2024

Leaving a promising cricket career to reignite her dreams of becoming a professional footballer was one of the hardest decisions Poppy Stockwell has ever had to make.

Stockwell has played for Western Australia and was one of the State’s best up-and-coming cricketers before leaving the sport at the end of last summer to throw her eggs in the football basket.

The keeper-batter played seven Women’s National Cricket League for WA across three summers.

She played this WAFL season for South Fremantle and quickly become one of the WAFLW’s most exciting players.

Now AFLW clubs, including both Fremantle and West Coast, are interested in making her footy dream come true.

Carlton and Richmond appear to be keen, as do Greater Western Sydney and Essendon.

Stockwell was one of seven women testing at the State draft combine in Perth on Sunday ahead of December’s national draft.

She said the deciding factor in her code switch was her confidence in her ability to make it in the AFLW.

“It’s really exciting. It is a dream come true having multiple teams show interest in me,” she said.

“It definitely was a hard decision, I love cricket to bits. I grew up playing both sports when I was four to five years old.

“Cricket has been a part of my life and the decision was really hard, but I felt in the back of my mind that I was always going to go back to footy and I had a lot more confidence in my ability in football compared to cricket.

“So that was ultimately the No.1 factor for the switch.

“I spoke to my parents probably the last year of my cricket contract, it was playing on my mind a lot and mentally I thought my ability for footy outweighed my ability for cricket and I saw a pathway with footy that I didn’t see as clearly with cricket.”

Stockwell said she is prepared to go wherever it takes to play AFLW.

“I would honestly move anywhere, even if that was the Gold Coast — any team,” she said.

“I would be so grateful for the opportunity, whether it’s here or Sydney, any team. If I get picked up to any team I would take it with open arms and give it a red-hot crack.”

Unlike most of the prospects testing at the State Netball Centre on Sunday, Stockwell is 20, which means she is considered a mature-ager and has not spent the season in WA academies.

“Definitely in the last month the WA footy commission has really helped and invited me along to combine training and preparation for the testing, that’s been really good support by them and I have been really appreciative of that,” she said.