JUST one year into her time at Carlton, Keeley Skepper has her sights set on a long career in the AFLW.
"I think it was (Breann Moody) who laughed at me the other day when I said I wanted to play, I think I said 200 or 300 games," Skepper told womens.afl.
"I want to be in the League for 10, 15 years plus hopefully … I want to stay, commit for a long time."
Taken with pick No.17 in the 2021 draft, Skepper made her debut with the Blues in round two last season, playing every game after that and kicking three goals in the process. Among it all, Skepper was balancing her final year of high school in Wodonga, nearly a four-hour drive from the club's home at Ikon Park.
This year is a different prospect, though, with Skepper now based in Melbourne, living with her mum and Carlton VFLW player Octavia Di Donato and with a part-time job on the side.
"I'm a lot more confident that I don't have to travel so much for training and stuff so I'm not so tired," Skepper said.
Before making the move with her mum, Skepper was renting a house alone, but experienced teammates Darcy Vescio and Jess Dal Pos took her under their wing.
"I lived on my own so 'Darce' and 'Dal' were so helpful. I remember when I first moved into my house I had no furniture, I was sleeping on a blow-up bed ... and I just remember the one breakfast that me, Darce and Dal had at my house, we sat outside on the ground because there was nowhere to eat breakfast," Skepper recalled.
"It was just so nice to have their support."
Wearing the No.4, Skepper sits alongside No.3 Vescio in the locker room. The pair hail from a similar part of the world, Skepper's Wodonga and Vescio's Wangaratta less than an hour's drive apart.
"I've always known them growing up, and I've always watched Darce and I wasn't a small forward, but I loved their craft around goals. And it was like crazy to think that like, it's actually possible because Darce is from like, my town," Skepper said.
"It actually is kind of cool, that me and Darce are, like best friends. It's like, I love it. Someone so talented in life and in footy. Like, it's just crazy how they can be so nice as well."
The teenager had a similar experience come round five, where in her fourth game she lined up on Daisy Pearce, who is from another northeast Victorian town, Bright.
"I had a moment when I was playing Melbourne, I lined up on her and I was like, 'Wow, this is crazy'," she said.
As a kid in country Victoria, however, AFLW players didn't really become visible for Skepper until she was 13 years old. Until then, she would go to the local footy to watch former St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Sydney star Barry Hall play.
"As a really young player, Barry Hall, he's such a lovely guy. He played for Wang Rovers, and I used to go to all his games after he retired," Skepper said.
"He was really good with me as well. I was probably the most annoying kid running around trying to find him after all the games and stuff, but he was so good to me."
As a true footy fan from a young age, Skepper's love for the game still spreads further than just her time training and playing with Carlton. She is now doing some coaching at Caulfield Grammar and helping to run coaching clinics here and there, while also still an avid collector of footy cards.
PLAY FOOTY Find your local club here
"Now like that I've got mates in the league I'm collecting their cards. In the back of my phone, I've got 'Kez' (captain Kerryn Peterson), and in my locker I've got like about six other players, I think it's like Dal, Darce, 'June' (Elise O'Dea) who was here last year, Mim (Hill) is in there, I think Gab (Pound) might be in there as well," Skepper said.
When it comes to her own game now, Skepper is focused on finding consistency, wanting to play every game of the 2023 season and find more physicality in her attack at the footy.
"At training, stacking some good sessions on top of each other and trying to get the most out of it … I think just adding a little bit more to my game," she said.
