Ahead of her 50th game of AFLW, West Coast fan favourite Belinda Smith is still rapt to be able to play footy at the elite level and hopes she can play 50 more in her beloved Eagles guernsey.
Coming out of the 2016 AFLW Draft, Smith spent time with both Fremantle and Western Bulldogs before returning home to join the Eagles at the start of 2020 prior to West Coast’s inaugural season in the competition.
Throughout her four seasons at the club the defender has brought high energy and passion to both her game and throughout the club, and she still finds it hard to believe that she is able to play in the blue and gold at such a high level.
“This is the club I grew up barracking for, I love this team, I love this club so much,” Smith told westcoasteagles.com.au
“There’s so much pride every game when I pull on the guernsey just to represent this club, I love it.”
During her time playing the game professionally Smith has had a career average of 10.6 disposals and 165.7 metres gained playing in defence and is having a career season in 2022.
Throughout her entire seven years in the league, Smith has seen what she says is an indescribable amount of growth not only at West Coast but for the entire competition as well.
“It’s grown so much, we came into AFLW in 2017 with eight teams and there was a lot of players in each side that had never played footy before,” she said.
“It was a very much a high-pressure situation, just kick the ball as far as you can sort of thing.
“For the skill level to evolve as much as it has in the last six years with an extra 10 teams added into the competition as well, It’s incredible.
“The skill and the talent now coming through from girls who have played since Auskick, it’s so exciting to see the next wave of athletes start to come up at the elite level.”
Smith’s love for the game has naturally led her to become a leader in this year’s young West Coast side using her passion to drive her teammates each week to get up for what can be a long season.
“Gameday is my favourite day of the week, it’s so much fun and I get super pumped up,” she said.
“I’m always having a boogie pre-game and I’ve got my group of girls that like me to pump them up ahead of the game, so I like to get up and about for them.
“I’ve found myself as a bit of a leader down in the backline this year, we’ve got such a young group so I’ve tried to bring that leadership aspect a lot more into my game this year, trying to be a level head down there."
It’s clear Smith’s passion for the game comes from the pride she has in her teammates, especially for her fellow backs.
Adjusting to a new group this season, her confidence in West Coast’s young squad is evident and she’s ecstatic to see what the future holds for the Eagles.
“It’s so exciting, you can really see the future of where we are going,” Smith said.
“Sasha Goranova has had such tough matchups each week and she’s completely grown in that role, you see Jessica Sedunary who’s also new to the backline and she’s flourishing.
“Sophie McDonald has taken her game to a whole new level and Charlie Thomas is not going to take too many games before teams are really going to have to start doing their homework into her.
“I’ve always had a lot of pride in my teammates and a lot of confidence in them to do their roles, but this year in particular is really exciting with the youth we’ve got on show.”
Arguably West Coast’s biggest challenge comes in the final game of the season facing Melbourne at Casey Fields this Saturday.
However, Smith believes her side will bring everything to their final game of the year.
“We are really excited to be honest, Melbourne are an absolutely quality opposition,” she said.
“There are well deserving of their top two spot and they are an outstanding outfit with players that area really good ball users in a decent structure.
“It’s a massive challenge for us to go up against the best and we will try and bring the heat as much as we can.
“We will certainly go over there and fight as hard as we can to make it a really great match and hopefully come away with a win.”
