FOR Brea Moody, Carlton is home.
“And it will stay that way,” she told SEN.
“I can’t see myself ever playing anywhere else so there was never anything to worry about.”
It was music to the ears of Carlton fans when the All-Australian ruck declared she would remain a Game Changer for at least another two years.
But the better news? She still hasn’t reached her ceiling.
“My goal each year has been to improve on the last,” she said.
“I keep setting myself goals on the track and off-field as well – I’m feeling fit, and I think my skills are getting cleaner so I’m excited to show everyone that there is another level of Brea Moody.”
After building her minutes up forward in season six, Moody has been continuing to develop her forward craft, with an eye to feature in the goalkicking column more frequently come season seven.
“Without giving too much away, being a tall player I want to develop a bit more forward and help have a bit more input on the scoreboard,” she said.
“I’ve also been working on my body craft in the contest and my follow up work after stoppages – nothing too much to change but polishing up what I’ve been working on and trying to be a really clean, fit player.”
Pre-season preparations have looked slightly different with a shift in season timings, and little notice that two seasons would be taking place in one year.
“Even though there was a little bit of a delay we had a pretty strong inkling that the season was going to be brought forward, so we were hesitant to stop our training because we weren’t sure how short that break was going to be,” she said.
“We were still able to have a few weeks off but not enough to relax too much.
“It’s been a bit of a shock for those of us who have been playing over summer – we’d all gotten used to the sun shining and 30-degree training, but it's long sleeves out there now.”
The other unknown has been the shake-up to the competition’s composition caused by expansion.
“There’s been a level of movement and some expansion every couple of years, so you never know how teams are going to shape up,” she said.
“You can look at a list and think, ‘they’ve got some great talent there’ but it’s about how you put it together out on the field and that connection that you need to form.
“I think with expansion and now having 18 sides, we were expecting a fair bit of player movement to allow those teams to be competitive coming into the season.
“While it’s disappointing, it also allows us to get some really great young talent coming through the draft and some experienced talent as well, that will help us be stronger this season.”
Next up for the Game Changers is their first official practice match of the pre-season, on the biggest stage of all, facing the Demons at the MCG tomorrow afternoon.
“It’s so exciting to have the opportunity to run out onto the MCG – and to do it before the men’s team is really exciting and something that we’ll hold with us for quite a long time.”
