VFLW Hawk Julia Crockett-Grills has been recognised for her excellent form in 2018, signing with AFLW side Geelong ahead of the 2019 season.
After averaging 16 disposals this season as the side finished second on the VFLW ladder, Crockett-Grills appears ready to make the leap into the national competition.
Though she will be a Cat for the commencement of AFLW Season 3, there remains an important endeavor still to be completed with her Hawthorn teammates; their 2018 premiership campaign.
“I can’t wait to play AFL footy, but a premiership is the first thing in sight,” Crocket-Grills said during the week.
“It’d mean a lot just with the girls that we’re playing with at the moment all sticking together and [Coach] Paddy’s been amazing.
“To bring that all together and win a premiership would just be something you’d never forget.”
Having defeated fellow top-four teams Geelong and NT Thunder in the final two rounds of the season, the Hawks will now face Collingwood in a qualifying final clash having hit peak form, with the midfielder adamant that the Hawks are capable of anything.
“As a group I think we’re finally stringing together what we’ve been doing at training, what Paddy’s been teaching us to do,” Crocket-Grills said.
“It’s sort of coming together at the right time now, we’ve played some big teams towards the end of the season so it’s good to know you are playing the best sides and competing well.”
After injury restricted her to just seven games with Box Hill in last year’s VFLW competition, Crocket-Grills quickly jumped onto the radar of AFLW clubs after a career-best season in 2018.
Having collected a season-high 20 disposals in the Hawks’ wins against both Essendon and Williamstown, the modest midfielder credits her impressive form to the work and comradery of her teammates.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to string a full season of football together, so being able to play to my potential this year has been great.
“I’ve just tried to continue my development each week and feed off the energy of my teammates.
“You’ve got to have the right people around you to make you perform at your best, and when everyone else is performing, it brings the best out of you as well.
“Our trademark as a team has always been family.
“Hawthorn has always been a family-oriented club, and as a playing group we see each other as family and are super close.”
A premiership player with Scoresby in the South East conference of the VWFL in 2013, Crocket-Grills says she wants nothing more than to experience the same thing with her current teammates now.
“(Winning a premiership) was an amazing feeling.
“To have that again with this bunch of girls would just be incredible.”
