Brazill chases childhood dream after toughest of decisions

As Ash Brazill flew to England to compete in the recent Quad Series with the Australian Diamonds, she had no inclination that she was about to make a heart-wrenching decision between two of her great loves, netball and AFL, a battle which netball eventually won.

Having first been picked for the Diamonds in 2015, Brazill has since earned 12 Test caps, including winning last month’s Quad Series, and for the last four years has juggled being part of Collingwood’s Super Netball team as well as the AFLW side.

Ash Brazill says the time is now for netball.Credit:Getty Images

“When I went over to England, I had every intention of coming back and playing footy,” she said.

“I didn’t know how I was going to perform; if I had got over there and not performed well, it could well have been a different story.”

The Diamonds will enter the Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham in July, as the gold medal favourites, and after losing the gold medal game at the last Games and the World Cup, determined is an understatement.

Brazill, who plays in the middle of both the footy field and netball court, knew it was now or never for netball, while footy has a place in her future.

“I do believe I’ll probably retire from netball and then continue with footy, so I thought I’d better give netball that shot, it’s my 15th season so it’d be pretty silly if I got injured doing something different” she said.

Ash Brazill relishes playing for the Magpies but had to make a difficult decision.Credit:AFL Photos

It’s been a juggle between both sports for four years, which the 32-year-old says actually made her love for both grow.

“When footy came into my life I was struggling with netball and didn’t get the joy that I used to get from it before” she said. “Playing footy actually made me love netball even more, and it brought the fun back and made me remember why I had started playing the game.”

The cross-coder is drawn to positive team culture, something she says the Diamonds have in spades thanks to the injection of young talent and the new head coach Stacey Marinkovich.

“We went over there [to England] and the team just gelled. The vibe is just amazing at the moment, the culture seems great,” Brazill said.

Ash Brazill.Credit:Getty Images

“I know the culture is always good when you’re winning but Stace really drives that and talks about how, if we’re going to win a gold medal, it’s not just the team, it’s the whole squad, even if you don’t go to the Comm Games, and somehow the whole team bought into it.

“It just felt like the right place to be and I don’t want to let anything in my control get in my way and I just felt like footy was one of those things.″⁣

This connection to strong camaraderie is what made it equally hard for Brazill to say goodbye to AFLW for the rest of 2022. “That’s why it was the hardest decision to step away from footy this year because I feel like I’m 100 per cent me when I’m on the footy field and I’m 100 per cent me when I’m with my footy team,” she said.

“They just bring me so much joy, so to actually walk away from it, knowing anything could happen was tough.”

There was a third love she had to choose between too, her now eight-week-old daughter Frankie, who was at home with wife Brooke and big brother Louis when Brazill returned to netball training when she was just three days old, to continue rehab on a knee injury so she could prepare to play in England.

Brazill returned from injury last year after she ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during an AFLW match in 2020. The injury sidelined her for the full Super Netball season, while the entire competition was moved to a hub in Queensland as Victoria endured COVID-19 restrictions.

“I was just struggling with netball when I’d hurt my knee, the girls were away in the hub and I was stuck in Melbourne. I just felt like I’d retired and no one had told me because they were all in Queensland,” Brazill said.

“I remember the Diamonds squad got announced and obviously I wasn’t in it, and it just got to me, so the last four months of rehab was really just, ‘I want to get back in that team’.”

Brazill is working with the AFLW side in a support role and also works in a video content role at Collingwood, involvement she intends to maintain moving forward.

“It’s probably good for me to actually sit off with them and watch the footage because I’m still learning and I do want to go back to the game,” she said.

Brazill refers to herself as “one of the oldies” in both teams but is excited by the future development of AFLW.

“It’s going to be interesting what happens with the league because I’ve loved watching the AFLW grow, and originally I was against them adding teams, but now I think it’s pretty smart of the AFL to have just committed to this.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of movement, and our footy team really feels like a family, so it’s going to be hard to see people go but that’s just the nature of sports … I’m hoping the club can keep the same players because I’d love to play with them again.”

For now, though, she’s got a job to do.

“When I was five, I stood all my teddy bears around the room and I’d sign autographs and pretend I went to the Olympics. I’d stand up on my bed thinking I’d win a gold medal and this is my only opportunity that I’ll ever get to play Comm Games for Australia and potentially live out that little girl’s dream, and I know if I was to get injured in footy, I’d probably never forgive myself.”

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