Iilish Ross

Iilish Ross chasing career goals in football

Premierships and Brownlow medals are what dreams are made of for young Border AFLW star Iilish Ross.

“Everyone’s goal is to win a premiership and win the women’s Brownlow so I guess in a few years that would be a goal, just get fitter and win games,” Iilish said.

“Just to be known as a good, fair player.”

Iilish was drafted to Collingwood at pick 13 in 2017, after her footy debut in 2016 for Lavington Panthers.

“Collingwood’s an awesome club with probably the best facilities, the girls are all really nice,” she said.

“I don’t really like Melbourne itself, coming from the country to the big city it’s a bit tough but the footy side of things is good.”

The 18-year-old has racked up many other achievements in footy, including being picked in the Vic country under-18’s and All Australian squad, as well as making the 2017 Murray Bushrangers squad.

She now plays a key role as a defender for Collingwood, holding AFLW’s 2017 leading goal kicker Darcy Vescio scoreless in her debut game for the club.

“When it comes to elite level footy I’ve always been a defender, I like playing off half-back and playing a bit of an attacking style footy,” she said.

“I’ve always just loved sport I guess, tackling’s good fun and just getting around your team-mates and winning games is just as good.

“When I first joined the gym and said I wanted to play footy in 2016 my gym coach was like: ‘you can’t even run properly’.

“I couldn’t squat properly, I couldn’t do anything really so my legs weren’t great with movement so we worked really hard and it paid off.”

Iilish said it’s good to see that girls are now getting the same opportunities as the boys.

“Footy has a lot of impact on society and having girls be able to do a male sport, especially AFL, is really good for society to see that everyone is being treated equal.

“It’s good to see that the little girls can play with the boys and then when they turn 14 they don’t have to stop if one of their goals is to keep going with it.”

Iilish is now a two-time nominee for the Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year Award.

“I feel privileged, there’s a lot of good athletes in it this year and to get it would be an honor,” she said.

Iilish was previously nominated for her many achievements in motorcycling, something she says she’ll continue in her off season.

“At the moment because the season’s so short I’ll go back to racing in April and race a few title events,” she said.

“I would like to play for 10 years with Collingwood and hopefully move into the midfield and get a little fitter and race in my off season.”