THERE'LL be no ill feeling when Maddi Gay lines up against her former side on Friday. In fact, it'll be quite the opposite.
Despite crossing over from Melbourne to Essendon during the off-season, Gay still has a lot of love for her former teammates.
After playing her first AFLW season with Carlton, Gay spent six seasons at the Demons where she won a premiership and spent time in the Demons' leadership group.
The 27-year-old was one of five big-name Dees to leave the club during the 2023 off-season, but said the move was more about her as a player, and less about the club.
"It's always hard to leave a group you love, but that's probably why it was so smooth," Gay told AFL.com.au during pre-season.
"The girls were great about me leaving. I went around and spoke to them, and I also went down to Anglesea and spoke to [Melbourne coach] Mick [Stinear]. I had a chat about leaving, and he was great. He's just a great human being.
"So we hugged it out, and I'll still watch them from afar as I still support them, but it was a really nice exit and I still love them all.
"I had a half-hour chat with Lozzy [Lauren] Pearce on the phone last night, so I'm still close with them all and will watch closely."
A rough trot with injuries took a toll on Gay's passion for footy, while childhood loyalties also played a big role in her decision to move to the Hangar.
"I'm very injury prone, so I sort of started to drop motivation in playing footy because of being on the injury list," Gay said.
"[The Melbourne medical team] did as much as they could, they were great, but it was more my mental side of things. I started to lose my passion for the game, and then Essendon showed interest.
"I wanted that fresh start, but also, being a Bombers supporter growing up, I kind of wanted to be there for the end of my career and give that to my family as well."
Somewhat of a veteran after eight years in the competition, Gay said it took a while to adjust to a new environment as an older player, but the vivaciousness of her younger teammates helped her settle in.
"It's a weird feeling, being older and going into a new club," she said.
"Normally you're a new draftee joining a club, so getting used to that was took some time.
"But the young kids were great. I always point out Mia Busch - I remember meeting her in the gym, and she just yapped my ear off for about an hour, which made me feel quite comfortable being around the club.
"I go to training excited, even if it's a late Thursday night training in the cold. I'm actually excited to to get to training and rock up and do what I can for the girls and just experience a new program and obviously bring my experience over and help where I can."
