Feature
Three Carey Captains, three AFL draft prospects Kelly Southworth Editor
The Captains of the Boys First XVIII, Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, and the Captain of the Girls First Football, Nicola Xenos, are all looking toward a career in AFL and AFLW respectively. So how has Carey footy helped them on that path? Nicola, Matt and Noah recently spoke to Torch about what they’ve learned along the way. How long have you been playing? Noah: Since Auskick. So when I was four or five years old. Nicola: I’ve been playing seven years. I started mainly with basketball and netball, but I dropped that and I’m now focussing on footy. Matt: I’ve also played tennis, basketball, athletics. I played in the First Tennis Team. Noah played in the First Volleyball Team and State Basketball. And we’ve both done Athletics since Year 7. It’s helped quite a bit with footy though, with spatial awareness, fitness and coordination. Noah and Matt, I’ve heard you’re pretty good friends too. When did you meet? Noah: We used to play against each other in basketball and football in primary school, and we’d talk at a few primary school cross country meets because we knew who we both were. We were kind of rivals, because we both had pretty good teams, but then we ended up coming to Carey in Year 7 together and started playing basketball and footy at school, and we’ve been best mates pretty much ever since. 12 | Torch
What have you liked about Carey footy? Matt: Playing with my best mates. And we’ll have a really good bond forever, with all those years of Saturday mornings out when the dew’s still on the grass. And now we’ve finished up with the premiership, so it’s pretty cool. Nicola: It’s also been good being Captain, because it’s not something I would normally put my hand up for. Stepping up really helped me both on and off the field. And it’s been good to be part of the start of girls footy. The talent in the team from a young age is crazy these days, so it’s only going to get better. The standard is lifting. And how does Carey footy compare to your other teams? Nicola: It’s pretty different, but very rewarding. You can definitely get a lot out of school footy.
‘School footy feels like it’s more centred around the team as a whole. The focus is on if we win or lose rather than individual performance. Because you have a real bond with these people on your team that you’ve known for six years. You can’t beat that.’
