When Hawthorn ruck Lucy Wales first walked through the doors of Bunjil Bagora, Waverley Park, she admitted it was “a bit daunting”.

But once she was inside, she immediately felt comfortable and thrived in the Hawks environment. 

Initially entering the Hawthorn program as an emerging ruck, Wales soon became the team’s number one ruck following a serious knee injury to Tamara Luke. While it was a devastating blow for the team, the 19-year-old dusted herself off and got to work.

“It was really tough on our team when Tam went down. She was a leader of our team and our number one ruck,” Wales told the Soaring to New Heights podcast.

“That did give me a great opportunity though so I’ve just been trying to do my best in my role for that time and really help create that connection with the midfielders.

“As you see with other teams their ruck and their midfield work so well together. We’ve only played 10 games together so it’s hard to completely work together and have full cohesion, we are still working on that connection.

“It’s been a really good experience and I feel like I’m learning a lot.”

In terms of what Wales has learnt, it’s that she needs to be more than a player that feeds her midfielders.

“I try to see my role as more than just going up for the ruck tap and trying to get the ball to the midfielders,” Wales said.

“I also feel I can help heaps around the ground and that’s shown with my tackling and pressure. I’ve been enjoying trying to help out the midfielders, it gets me more in the game.”

Round 1 was an interesting experience for Wales, who played against her twin sister Stephanie for the first time. In a clash between the old archenemies Hawthorn and Essendon, the Hawks twin lost out but she left Marvel Stadium with memories she’ll never forget.

“That experience was honestly just amazing,” Wales said.

“It was weird playing against Steph. It actually made me feel more comfortable on-field.

“We always shared the footy field together, the only time we didn’t play together was when she broke her foot in Under 16s. It was the same thing (at Marvel Stadium) - we shared the field together, we were just playing against each other.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget playing on Marvel, there were a lot of people there.

“I think playing on Marvel helped a lot because a lot of the environmental conditions were taken out and the skills on display were pretty high quality which was great.

“I hope to play on Marvel Stadium again one day.”

Wales’ rapid improvement was recognised in Round 7 when she was nominated for the AFLW Rising Star award. In Hawthorn’s win against Port Adelaide, she had 17-hit-outs to go with 10 disposals and five tackles. While the nomination is one for individuals, Wales believed it said a lot about the team.

“The Rising Star is a work-in-progress award and a recognition of work over a few weeks. I was happy to get it in Round 7, I felt like I played a few good games in a row,” she said.

“I think it’s a testament to the team, we’ve had two rising stars. It really is exciting. The girls all got around me and it did make me feel good and motivated me to keep playing my role for the team. It was an exciting recognition but it sparked me to keep working hard.”

Wales’ impact was felt well before Round 7 though. In the club’s inaugural AFLW win two weeks prior, the 19-year-old took a critical mark and laid a crucial tackle in the dying stages to seal the win at Punt Road Oval. While she doesn’t really remember those moments, she certainly remembers when the final siren went.

“The win gave us a bit of hope and trust in our process,” Wales said.

“We were down by 26 points at quarter-time so to come back and stick at it was really important to our team.

“It’s a testament to how much we believe in our process and what Bec’s teaching us. To get that first win was just like all of our hard work was paying off.

“A lot of girls in the team played a big role in that, especially our experienced players. For our experienced players to step up was really important.”

Speaking about Bec Goddard as a coach, Wales had nothing but praise for her.

“She does have some weird ways to show us things,” Wales admitted.

“She really does believe in the group and believe in the process and by transferring that to us, we know that success will come in the future with what she’s guiding us to do. I love her as a coach and all the other coaches as well, they all work so hard together. It’s showing in our game plan as well to get three wins in our first season.”

Perhaps the most exciting element of the season for Wales was the support from the Hawthorn fans.

“It’s really cool to play home games and talk to our fans afterwards and see the smiles on their faces,” she said.

“Even after we’ve lost, they’re still smiling. We’re all very grateful.

“It’s funny when little kids come up to you and sign things, I think why me, I’m just a normal person but I guess they look up to you.”