THE APPEAL of a fresh challenge in a new city was one of the factors behind All-Australian key forward Jesse Wardlaw's switch from Brisbane to St Kilda.
The 23-year-old was a premiership player with the Lions in 2021, and was last season's AFLW leading goalkicker, but will be lining up in fresh colours this year as part of a convoluted five-club, seven-player trade.
While the vast majority of Wardlaw's immediate family live in New Zealand – she was born in Ashburton, on the South Island – she has an aunty and uncle living in Melbourne.
"I was presented with a great opportunity from St Kilda and after weighing it up for a while, and having a big, long hard think about it, talking to my family and everything, I thought it was the right thing for me and my career at the moment," Wardlaw told womens.afl.
"Plus a change is always good, and I'm not one to stay still, so I thought why not live in a new city, really push myself and put myself out of my comfort zone and see what I can do down here.
"I do have an aunty and uncle down here, which makes it a bit easier, but I knew two or three people down here before I moved, and already making new friends.
"I think the biggest thing for me would be if Melbourne would be suited to my lifestyle and the way I like to live and close to the things I love. So far, so good."
Wardlaw crossed over at Brisbane with St Kilda midfielder Nat Exon during the 2019 season, when the inside midfielder was plying her trade up north.
"The only person I knew (at the Saints) was Nat Exon who I'd played with at Brisbane. When she did leave Brisbane, she said to me 'come play at the Saints so we can play with each other again'," Wardlaw said.
"She had all good things to say about the Saints, answered all my questions, and I get to play with her again, which is pretty cool.
"It's busy, but exciting. There's so much here, I think I'm obsessed with how good the food is here. I don't think the weather is too bad at the moment, I'm bracing myself for what's to come."
The last game Wardlaw played was the season seven Grand Final in late November, where Brisbane fell just four points shy of Melbourne, but it's not something she's using as motivation going forward.
"Not really. I think I'm closing that chapter of being at the Lions, chasing that premiership for so long and now it's all about building and seeing what I can do at the Saints," she said.
"We've got a long way to climb, but I do believe we can win a premiership. It's starting from where we are now and building on that.
"It's pretty exciting not having that premiership focus front of mind all the time, and just going week to week and game by game. I'm really excited to see what we can do in the long run here."
Wardlaw is completing an engineering degree, but has taken the semester off uni to help her adapt to life in a new city. Moving in with new teammate Liv Vesely has helped with the adjustment.
"It's been awesome. I think it's great, living with a teammate, just so I can get settled in. She's guiding me through trainings and everything," Wardlaw said.
"She's a pretty lively personality, so it makes it easy to live with someone like that."
Wardlaw is coming off a 22-goal season from 12 games, topping the AFLW leading goalkicking charts after just nine majors from the same number of games the season prior.
So, what's next for the young star?
"I'd love to kick some more goals, but I've got some new teammates that will help me get there," she said.
"To be honest, I'd love for my teammates to kick some goals and have a great connection in the forward line, I think that's a win for me."
