Carys D'Addario wins Rogers Cup Leading Goalkicker Award

Carys D'Addario made an immediate impact in her first season with Swan Districts ending up as the leading goalkicker in the Youth Girls Rogers Cup competition and she's already excited at the thoughts of what's possible in her football career.

D'Addario joined Swan Districts to play in the Rogers Cup for the 2022 season having started her football at Guildford Grammar, but playing in the forward-line was something that was new to her.

She had spent most of her footballing life as a midfielder or wing before coming to Swans, but in this past Youth Girls season she starred in attack and ended up kicking 18 goals from her 11 matches.

That saw her win the Rogers Cup Leading Goalkicker Award including a best of four goals against Claremont in Round 12 while kicking two goals in another three matches.

D'Addario enjoyed everything about her first season with Swan Districts and the chance to find her feet in the forward-line.

"It was really good being at Swannies. The coaches were really supportive and the whole club was really welcoming," D'Addario said.

"I got along with my teammates so that made it a lot easier. It's obviously hard having to adjust coming to a different club, but I think that worked out pretty well in the end.

"Well this is my first season playing for Swannies and really before this season I never really saw myself as much of a goalkicker.

"I normally have played in the midfield or on a wing and I hadn’t kicked many goals before this season. But I guess I backed myself and got the confidence and then during the season spent more time in the forward-line, and got the results."

Last Monday night at the WAFLW Awards at the Crown Perth Astral Ballroom saw D'Addario collect her award as the Rogers Cup leading goalkicker.

It was a big deal for the 15-year-old to get up on stage at such an event, but something she was tremendously proud of.

"It was pretty exciting. I had never really been to anything like that before so I was grateful for the opportunity. It was pretty exciting and a really good feeling to receive my award," she said.

"I was pretty nervous at the start and I kind of knew I was going to win something because the club had told me and the leading goalkicker is something that you can track. In saying that, I was still nervous but once you're up there it was alright."

It was the biggest and most glamourous event that the teenager has been to and it did mean some shopping over the weekend was in order, but it didn’t impact too much aside from missing a test the following Tuesday morning at school.

"I had a couple of days to try and find something to wear. Obviously I didn’t really have anything in my wardrobe at the time, but I went to school on Monday and finished at 3.30," D'Addario said.

"The event didn’t start until 7 so I got home, had a shower and got ready and was good to go. I actually did go to school a bit later the next day to be honest. I had a test first up that I wasn’t really prepared for so I went to school about lunch time on Tuesday."

Being acknowledged on the big stage and being her competition's leading goalkicker is a significant achievement for D'Addario and it's something that makes her think about how far she might like to go with her football.

"I've been playing footy for a long time, since Auskick and that, and now I'm just starting to get into all the state programs and everything," she said.

"I've always wanted to go as far as I can with my football so now I guess winning this award and playing with Swans and in all the academies, it's giving me the chance to show what I can do. It's a good pathway for me to hopefully get somewhere bigger in the future."

There is now a definite possibility for all emerging footballers D'Addario's age to now be able to dream of a future playing in the AFLW competition and by that stage potentially being a full-time athlete.

That's something that is without question a dream for her and she's delighted to be coming through in the era that she is where it's a distinct possibility unlike for the previous generation.

"I guess trying to play AFLW one day would be the dream if I can. Obviously I would have to put in a lot of hard work, but I guess at the end of the day I'm prepared to do that and in the next few years hopefully that can happen," D'Addario said.

"It's great that there is now a pathway to AFLW for the girls. I know that even when I was younger and playing with the boys, all the coaches were always not sure what it would lead to for the girls.

"But now that there's a pathway to AFLW and a clear goal to work towards, it's great that we all have the opportunity to strive for that. Hopefully it continues to become a stronger competition and you can already see it improving every year."

Even though the WAFLW seasons might be finished now for 2022, D'Addario remains incredibly busy still playing school football at Guildford Grammar, playing basketball, focusing on her school work and has the National Schoolgirls Carnival coming up in NSW.

"I'm a pretty busy person and I actually play quite a few different sports as well. I play basketball, a bit of netball for school and it's a pretty busy life when I'm juggling, footy, school work and everything else," she said.

"I've got State Schoolgirls coming up at the end of July so that's only a few weeks away. We're going away to Lavington so I'll still be training for that. After that pre-season will start fairly soon at Swannies because the season rolls around quite quick.

"So I still have school footy and State Schoolgirls going on at the moment so footy doesn’t end for me just because our Swannies season is over."

Also a talented basketball player, D'Addario knows eventually she might have to choose a sport to focus on and that most likely would be football right now given the possibilities that AFLW is now providing.

"I think eventually I might have to choose between sports, but at the moment my basketball coach is pretty lenient and footy is probably my No. 1," D'Addario said.

"So he lets me go to footy training and get to basketball when I can. But now that footy season is over I can spend more time at basketball so it's working for me for now, but in the future I'll probably have to pick footy and just do basketball as a social thing if I can find the time to keep playing."