Iilish Ross: The Wolf Thrown to the Wolves
- Feb 13, 2018
- 3 min read
As the days, hours and minutes ticked down to the season-opening blockbuster between Carlton and Collingwood at IKON Park, the air was thick with the predictions and debates of what AFL Women’s had in store in 2018.
Would the high wave of public engagement continue into the new season? Would Victorian clubs rise to the challenge of having no participation in the inaugural Grand Final? Would 2017 champions like Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce be able to repeat their brilliance?
There was one thing no one expected, however: that an 18-year old punk from Albury-Wodonga who had never played senior football would nullify Carlton’s excitement machine full forward Darcy Vescio.
Enter Iilish Ross.
“It was nice that they had that confidence in me to do that job,” says Ross. “It was pressure but it was also nice to hear that so I took it both ways.”
The news of Ross’ AFLW debut was broken to her on the Tuesday before the Round 1 encounter, with the extra challenge that she would be taking Vescio part of the Thursday night selection announcement.
Not only was Vescio the highest goal-scorer in the inaugural AFLW season but she lit the spark of public imagination with her four-goal haul in the historic season opener against Collingwood. So when coach Wayne Siekman turned to Ross to guard her, he was asking the fledgling Pie to exorcise the club’s ghosts as well as wrestle with one of the league’s best forwards.
“I was told how Vescio plays, I was told what she likes to do. My role was to shut her down and keep her scoreless and that’s all they asked of me,” says Ross.
It was an extraordinary show of faith in a youngster who had only picked up Australian Rules in 2016. Ross is undeniably a talented player - last year, her form for the Murray Bushrangers and Vic Country saw her selected in the TAC Cup Girls’ Team of the Year and the AFLW Under 18 All-Australian squad – but the match-up was undoubtedly a risk.
Which is not to say Siekman threw his young charge to the wolves. After being taken by the Magpies with pick 13 in October’s draft, Ross has undertaken a crash course in the art of defence this summer.
“I was always put on older forwards like Jazzy Garner, so she would tell me where she wouldn’t like me if she was on me in a game,” says Ross. “So that was really helpful to have the older players’ support out on the track so it wouldn’t be as hard when we were facing other forwards during the season.”
Ross went into her AFLW debut with a huge and passionate support crew in tow: aunts, uncles, grandparents, no fewer than six cousins and her first football coach were at IKON Park as the Iilish fan club. With the traditional rivalry, the air of the occasion and a crowd of nearly 20,000 fans compounding the pressure, Ross matched Vescio in every facet of the Blue’s attacking game: she stayed with her on the lead and lurking around contests and denied her a flicker of breathing space in the air and at ground level. The Darcy Vescio of 2017 who was so spoiled for options in her arsenal hardly got a sniff against Iilish Ross and finished the night scoreless, her colours having been comprehensively lowered.
“There was one in the centre,” says Ross when asked of the moment of which she is most proud. “We spoiled it and she caught it as it bounced up off the ground and I tackled her I didn’t get the free paid but we got the stoppage.”
The battle was a microcosm of a match that was a four-quarter war of attrition. While Ross’ confidence grew across the game, she didn’t allow herself to take her eyes off Vescio until the final siren. Whilst the Pies lost by eight points, there was no denying that Ross had fired with her first shot.
“At half time when we went into the rooms a few of our older players who had been watching from the boundary got around me and said, ‘Keep that up, you’re going awesome,’” recalls Ross. “They were very supportive, a tap on the shoulder and that meant a lot to me.”
Photo: Russ Canham
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