If AFLW clubs and scouts weren’t already on high alert, Vikki Wall’s All-Ireland final performance for Meath surely came as a claxon call to them.
Winning possession in the opening seconds against Dublin and charging up the field to win a free that was converted, she displayed in that brief passage many of the qualities that are so highly valued in the oval ball game.
For now, the hero of Meath’s breakthrough senior success has insisted that she is staying put in Ireland for 2022. Beyond that, who knows.
Her stock is clearly high at the moment as the PwC GPA Player of the Month for September and the reigning intermediate Player of the Year.
“It’s something I wouldn’t rule out in the future but at the moment I’m happy, I’m going back to do my Masters in DCU, starting this week,” said Wall regarding a potential AFLW switch. “I’ll be here for this year and committing to Meath this year and really hoping to do well again next year.”
Asked about any dealings with AFLW clubs or representatives, Wall nodded.
“Ah yeah, I’ve had a few conversations over the last year or so but it’s still up in the air,” she said.
It’s anticipated that around a dozen Irish players will compete in the 14-team 2021/2022 AFLW season. By 2023, it’s expected that all 18 AFL clubs will have a women’s team, increasing the likelihood of top LGFA players like Wall being signed up.
Dublin had three players – Sinead Goldrick, Lauren Magee and Niamh McEvoy – who played in Australia last season though Goldrick suffered a serious hamstring while on AFLW duty which limited her involvement with Dublin during the Championship.
Meath didn’t have any players in Australia and Wall agreed that it may have helped them.
Split season
“Yeah, I think you can look at it in that way,” she said. “I think for us as well, people might have had the thought of going travelling or doing J1s this year but obviously that wasn’t a possibility.
“So for us, county has really been our club this year. Last weekend was the first match I’ve played with my club since last October.
“I think that definitely helped us that we got to fully commit to county. We weren’t going to and from the club. I’d definitely be in favour of a split season.
“I think it really helps you to be able to focus on one thing at a time. I know it probably didn’t help Dunboyne, my own club, the fact that we had five on the Meath team, they probably didn’t have us for the league so that probably didn’t help them but, on the other side of it, it really did help the county this year with the fact that we got to fully commit to it.”
Wall was annoyed in the lead up to the final against Dublin that some claimed Meath were “lucky” to be there.
“I don’t think we’ll be short of motivation when we come back together,” she said. “Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t have sat right with me, the word ‘luck’ being thrown around. We proved ourselves against a lot of senior teams this year.”
