Echuca’s Annabel Johnson has experienced a meteoric rise to become an integral part of Geelong’s AFLW side, having only started playing competitive football in 2021. Off The Ball spoke with her this week as she headed back to pre-season training, about her journey to the elite level and the setbacks she has already overcome in her short career.
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Less than a year after moving from Echuca to Geelong in 2021 to pursue a primary school teaching degree at Deakin University, Annabel Johnson was an AFLW player.
After training with the Geelong Amateurs, Johnson found her way on to the VFLW list, and that same year, was taken by Geelong with pick number 15 in the 2021 AFLW National Draft and made her debut in round one of that season.
For the Echuca local, the entire process is still surreal.
“It’s pretty crazy because I've only been here, well because of the back-to-back seasons this is now my third season, but I kind of feel like I've been around for a while,” Johnson said.
“It's just pretty crazy with the team we had, there was not as many defenders, so I was able to kind of slot in at the start.”
Johnson’s remarkable ascension was halted just as quickly as it happened, however, when the defender suffered a foot fracture in the fourth game of her debut season, side-lining her for the remainder of the year.
While a season-ending injury is always a harrowing experience, especially for a first-year player, Johnson takes a glass-half-full approach when discussing the setback.
“I've actually had a bit of a bad run, I've had to have a couple surgeries,” she said.
“But the first time I did it, I guess I was a bit naive, it was my first long-term injury, so I actually can't really believe how fine I was.
“Then when I had to have surgery again, I guess that's probably when reality sank in, that I was getting a bit sick of this. I think I was lucky in a way that we had back-to-back seasons, so I didn't have to wait too long to be able to play again.
“It's an interesting thing when I reflect on it, I feel like I did some of my best learning about the game by just being able to go watch trainings, watch the coaching staff and watch clips from the outside.
“It's kind of developed me, I'm physically stronger now and mentally, but I guess my whole game sense and understanding of the game, I feel like it's kind of developed too. So yeah, it was bad to go through, but now that I've done that, I feel like I've come out the other end stronger.”
The benefits of some time out of the game for Johnson are clear to see, with the intercepting defender being named in the initial AFLW 22 under 22 squad in her first full season last year after returning from injury, and with less than 30 total games of football under her belt.
“It's actually a bit ridiculous,” Johnson said of her inclusion in the initial squad.
“We were counting, I think I've only played about 30-odd games. It's nice, I was still carrying a bit of (an injury), so it's nice just to start pre-season this year and get a full pre-season under way and have a real crack.
“With the back-to-back seasons it was a bit stressful trying to fit everything in, so as much training and as many practice matches and games that I can get in, we’ll just be better and better.”
Although the AFLW competition is growing bigger year-on-year, it is not yet full-time for athletes, meaning Johnson is left to juggle work and study commitments alongside her obligations as an elite sportsperson.
“I was actually saying this to someone the other day, it's funny wearing a few different hats,” she said.
“I'm actually at work now, I work at SEDA as well, and then I've been doing a bit of coaching for the Falcons girls. So it's kind of nice, all the things I do relate to each other, they all link in a bit.
“It's bizarre, but I actually enjoy it, it keeps me busy and keeps my mind thinking about other things which is good, but it is definitely challenging at times."
With pre-season getting under way for all AFLW clubs this week, there has been plenty of talk about the length of the season, which is currently 10 games plus finals. AFLW clubs and the AFL Players’ Association are pushing for a gradual increase to 17 games, which Johnson is fully supportive of.
“We just want to play as many games as we possibly can,” she said.
“My understanding is that (negotiations are) still under way, and apparently they're close to an agreement, but I'm not sure of what that actually means.
“All of us just want to play as many games as possible. I'm predicting that's going to be an increase next year and then slowly increase that way.”
With a gruelling four-month pre-season before the first round in September, Johnson said the short season didn’t match up with the effort the players put in to take to the field.
“My coach always refers to it as like a round-robin sort of thing,” she said.
“It's not really a season, it's more of a round-robin. It does put pressure on you as well, like you really do have to win your games otherwise you're in trouble early.
“It's hard on your body if you are carrying injuries and stuff like that, because you kind of just keep pushing through, it's pretty crazy really.”
Despite a 7-3 record last season, Geelong was unable to progress past the elimination final, going down by two points to North Melbourne. The narrow loss has sparked a hunger from Johnson’s side to go even further this season.
“It's just about putting ourselves back into the position where we can go back and do something about it,” she said.
“I know that a lot of people, they weren't necessarily sad, I think there's just that fire in the belly. We watched a video the other day, like a little doco thing our media team made about it.
“No-one felt sad, we just felt ready to go back out there and put ourselves in a position to do it again.
“So yeah, I guess there's just fire in the belly about that.”