BEING in a relationship with a teammate isn't always easy, least of all when you don't fit a lot of people's idea of what a woman in a relationship with another woman looks like.
Matilda Scholz, who burst onto the AFLW scene before she was technically draft-eligible, has been in a relationship with teammate Abbey Dowrick for nearly a year, but has a very relaxed approach to sexuality.
"People come up to me and say 'oh you don't look like you'd be with a girl," Scholz told AFL.com.au.
"I'm like, 'well, what's that supposed to look like?'"
While some members of the queer community find comfort in labels and identifiers, Scholz doesn't identify any particular way.
"People definitely assume that I'm just a straight person, but I don't like labels," she said.
"I'm just like 'whatever'. It’s really cool to be able to be different.
"And hopefully young girls can look up to me and see that they can just like whoever they want to like, it doesn’t even matter, you don’t even have to have a label."
Scholz, whose younger sister Poppy is one of the upcoming AFLW draft's top prospects, comes from an elite sporting pedigree, with mum Peta Squire a former Australian netballer and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Scholz's parents divorced when she was young, with her mother later entering into a relationship with a woman.
"Mum and Dad were married for like, 12 or something years, and then Mum fell out of love with Dad," Scholz said.
"They got a divorce when I was in year six, and then Mum fell in love with a girl and they've been together for eight years now.
"That's not an easy thing for Mum to do, and it's pretty incredible that she's able to do that and felt comfortable."
Scholz's father has also re-partnered, and she credits her broad and unconventional family with giving her the support and confidence required to withstand the demands of the AFLW system.
"I have the best family. Dad’s just had a little baby boy, he’s the cutest thing in the world," she said.
"The love from Dad's side of the family and from Mum's side is just more than I can ask for. It's amazing."
That support extends through Scholz's relationship with Dowrick, with the pair spending a lot of time together both at and away from the club.
"It definitely has its challenges - we're together a lot of the time, but I think that's a really nice thing," Scholz said.
"It's really lovely to be able to, like, on the car ride homes after footy, maybe I haven't had a good training session, but she just understands that and she knows what to say.
"I think it's a really nice thing that she understands what it's like being in the AFLW environment."
