ESTHER Honybun would not have followed her father David's footsteps to Carlton if it wasn't for his own intervention.
While on the Overland Track in Tasmania, Honybun missed a number of calls from Melbourne's AFLW list manager asking her to join them as a train-on player. It wasn't until a few months later she realised the opportunity existed, to which her father enquired "why not see if Carlton can offer the same?"
"He reached out to Carlton, which I wasn't all that pleased about at the time because I wanted to get there on my own account," Honybun says.
"But it ended up being really good because Brett Munro (general manager of women's football) was like 'come along'."
Honybun was eligible to join the Blues as father David played five games for the club in the 80s. A back injury cut his career short after a further 55 games at Richmond, but Esther says football has always been at the heart of their relationship.
"Our relationship has been built up around watching football together growing up, so even though I never saw him play it's definitely been there," she says.
Although Honybun loved watching football with her dad, there was no pathway to play the game which pushed her to soccer.
Her parents' fears of injuries was another factor that had Honybun grow up playing soccer, so it was ironic that a football injury helped her make the decision to take up Aussie rules.
"I played my first game of footy ever just with school and I tore my meniscus and missed the rest of the soccer season. I remember doing rehab and being like, 'oh, I'm not missing soccer'," she recalls.
"I remember seeing the AFLW promo on TV while on the gym bikes and thinking that's what I want to do, not soccer."
Even though she was also eligible to play for Richmond under the same rules that led her to the Blues, Honybun says the Tigers were "never an option". It was her love for the suburb of Carlton and her father's connection to it that had her pursue the opportunity at the Blues.
After starting football late, the opportunity to train on with the Blues' AFLW side in the pre-season has helped fast track her development. Despite the opportunity, Honybun wants to make sure she does make it to the AFLW of her own accord.
"Maybe the father-daughter element gives me an upper hand, but it doesn't change the fact I have so much to learn," she says.
After a few years of developing her skills and sampling a few different positions Honybun believes she's found her home in the backline.
"I'm still trying to break bad habits that are ingrained in me from soccer and improving things like marking and decision making, but I’ve finally found my position.
"I think I've gotten more confident with my skills and the game and I feel more natural playing as a defender."
Honybun is lucky her dad loves offering advice after games to help her improve, and while she says she's "not very good at receiving" it, it is welcome.
It also helps that Honybun has Olivia Madden and Abbie McKay alongside her as fellow father-daughter players, a group she can lean on with their shared situation.
For now, Honybun is putting in the work to get herself drafted, a reward she says would be "a nice ode" to her and her father's relationship.
