In November 2016, Claire Dyett was meant to be at Hawthorn’s VFLW trials at Waverley Park.
Instead she was playing in her netball semi-final.
“I was playing my first year of senior footy at the Whitehorse Colts,” Dyett said.
“Paddy [Hill] had come down to one of our trainings and asked me to come to the Hawthorn trials.
“I decided to play in my netball final instead of going to the trials.
“Paddy wasn’t very happy with me and we lost the final too, so it wasn’t really worth it.”
At the end of 2017, she didn’t make the same mistake twice, attending the trials and getting picked up by the Hawks. She played four games for Hawthorn in 2018 and only narrowly missed out on a premiership medal, being named as an emergency for the Grand Final.
Having played sport her whole life, Dyett grew up trying a few different sports, in the hope she’d discover one she really enjoyed.
“I played a bit of basketball through primary school, a bit of tennis and just wanted to find a sport that I liked.”
She then landed on football and despite being the only girl in her primary school’s team, she loved the game.
“I’ve played football for every school team since I was in primary school.”
In year seven, she turned her focus to netball, playing locally and for a representative team all the way through high school.
It wasn’t until 2016 that she found her way back to football again, deciding to play for her local team.
“Vermont Eagles got an under 18s team and I wanted to play for my local club, so I went and played for them.
“I was actually technically too old for the team, but they really needed players, so I got a license to play.”
Now, three years on, she is in her second year at the Hawks, and has played all four games for the 2019 VFLW season.
The small forward says one of the biggest challenges she faced coming across to Hawthorn was fighting for a spot on the side against her own teammates.
“I think coming from netball where you know you’re playing every week, to football, where I didn’t know if I’d be playing, it was just so different.
“With netball you know you’re gonna be on the court, with football, you don’t know if you’re gonna be on the ground, but then I guess that’s the thing with footy, it really pushes you.”
Coming into the Hawks, Dyett found a mentor in Rosie Dillon, who is currently playing her third year at the club and was just voted into the 2019 leadership group.
“I already knew Rosie from Whitehorse and she just kind of took me under her wing which was awesome.”
“I also really clicked with Hayley [Gregory] and Brett [Alexander], particularly with me wanting to learn and them being both teachers outside of coaching, I think it was perfect.
“I can talk to them and learn from them and I just feel like I could go to Brett or Hayley any day of the week.”
At just 21-years-old, there is potential for Dyett to be picked up by an AFLW club. When asked about playing in the AFLW, she says she’s just taking football one step at a time.
“I just want to grow personally and learn about football, and playing at the VFLW, seeing how high a level of football I can play, has been really good.
“I’m just taking everything that I’m learning on board, but obviously I wouldn’t pass up playing the next level up in the AFLW.”
For now though, her focus is on 2019 season and the personal goals that she has set herself.
“I want to become more confident as a footballer.
“Last year I learnt so much about football and my skills improved a lot, so then over the pre-season and leading into round one, I wanted to almost double that improvement again, which I did.
“I also wanted to play more games for Hawthorn, I played four games last year and I’ve already played four this year, so that’s really exciting.”
“I just want to continue to learn about football and grow and improve my skills.”
