Rising star Edgar becomes 100th WAFLW debutant

What a year 2024 is shaping up to be for Millie Edgar. She has joined Swan Districts for the first time, she's about to embark on her dream of joining the police force and on the first WAFLW game of the season became the 100th debutant in the WAFLW for the black-and-whites.

Edgar is in her first year out of school and only just recently turned 18, but on Round 1 WAFLW match up against Claremont, she officially became the 100th player to debut for Swan Districts in the WAFLW competition.

That comes just months after electing to join Swan Districts over summer after playing her Rogers Cup football at Subiaco, but for a whole host of reasons she felt playing at Bassendean would suit her better as she made the leap up to play in the WAFLW competition.

While still living on the family property near Toodyay and then just feeling like she'd fit in better at Swan Districts, Edgar felt it would be the right place for her to continue her playing career.

"I played at Subi for my three years at Rogers Cup level and I live up in the Wheatbelt, out Toodyay way, so the travel was getting a bit much and Swan Districts is a tiny bit closer," Edgar said.

"I just feel like I fit in better with the Swan Districts girls and I was just looking for a bit of a fresh start at a new team with new eyes and skill sets and positions. It was mostly just a fresh start and wanting to try something new."

Edgar took no time feeling right at home at Swan Districts over summer, but that didn’t stop the nerves kicking in ahead of her WAFLW debut against Claremont.

She ended up receiving her No. 32 jumper from Naomi Baker who is officially Swans' first ever WAFLW player with Edgar becoming the 100th debutant in the game, and she was proud to be out there.

"It was pretty nerve racking to begin with and being in the change rooms at the start, but as I got out there I felt alive and really good," she said.

"It felt great to be out there on the field with the girls and having them all around me even though we didn’t quite get the result we wanted. I felt like the energy was still there and we've got a lot to come this season, and a lot of talent coming through so the signs were pretty exciting."

Speaking of Baker who passed on the jumper to Edgar ahead of her debut, she couldn’t be more excited to see young players like her get these early WAFLW opportunities.

"I've gotten to know Millie quite a bit too over this pre-season and we also went to the same school together, just in different year groups obviously," Baker said.

"It's been really cool getting to see her kind of grow at training and become more comfortable in the group, and then debuting on the weekend that's so awesome for her.

"It's just so exciting and I love seeing those girls come in and get to experience a debut and everything that goes with it. It's very cool."

It didn't take long for Edgar to realise once out there against Claremont that it was a significant jump up to WAFLW level, but she felt like she did start to feel comfortable out there the longer the game went even against such strong opposition.

"The pace of the game was definitely a lot quicker I found and there was a lot less stoppages in my opinion," Edgar said.

"I was playing half-back and that constant running definitely got to me a bit, and some of the girls were double my size with me being five-foot nothing so they were a bit bigger.

"But it was good competition and definitely felt a bit more competitive and with a lot more hunger there for the ball, and it was just a faster pace altogether.

"It was really good competition and it definitely opened up our eyes to see what the competition was like to play a team like Claremont.

"They're such a well-structured team who have their plans so well thought out and everything so it was good with us having so many new girls to see our strengths and weaknesses are going up against a structured team and top team in the competition like Claremont."

Helping Edgar feel ready to start her WAFLW career straight away in the team was the work she put in with the Swan Districts group over summer in what was a hot and gruelling pre-season schedule.

"All the girls will agree we had a very, very hot pre-season and a lot of very hot trainings and that, but I think pushing up from that Rogers level to league level definitely challenged me quite a bit," she said.

"I did have a break from footy in the middle of the seasons last year and then changing clubs has definitely been an eye-opener and it's been a bit different moving up to league for me."

Like her fellow Subiaco recruit, Hannah Plummer, Edgar has begun preparations of joining the police force now that she has turned 18 and finished school, and it's been a long-time dream she's held.

"I'm doing police cadets at the moment and I'm hoping to join the police recruits within the next five or six months," she said.

"We have a couple of others in the police at the team too which is pretty cool, we might end up with a team of cops. Police is always something I've been interested in along with defence force, and just helping the community so I thought this would be a good way to do it.

"It's since I was about 12 I found out all the information about it and watching my cousin go through the process too definitely helped me know it's what I wanted to do."

Not only does the obvious physical requirements to join the police mix well with playing football, but Edgar also feels the skills you learn from both make it a perfect fit.

"It does mix really well with footy and not just the physical fitness side of things, but also just with the communication skills," Edgar said.

"It really helps me being able to communicate at work really well and then translate that into communicating on the footy field too so it ties in pretty well together."

While the travel to and from training, and for game day, can get a bit tiring as well, it isn't all bad for Edgar and having some thinking time while in the car isn’t always a bad thing.

"It can be a bit hectic and the travel can definitely get a bit tiring and exhausting especially if you have a long day of work and have to go straight to training," Edgar said.

"But I've lived here my whole life so it is something I'm used to, but sometimes the travel get a bit much. You just push through, though, and it does have some positives like it can be a calming drive home to let you think about things at the same time."