PUMPED. 

Carlton’s Sam Walsh and Darcy Vescio spoke to the media ahead of the historic double header at Marvel Stadium.   

On Sunday night’s historic double-header: 

Vescio: “We're super excited as a club. It's something we've asked about for a long time, and the league has grown so much over the past few years. It's cool that we're at a point where the AFL is fully behind creating a double header and seeing how we go.”= 

Walsh: “We're pumped. We've admired how the AFLW team has gone about it the last 12-18 months. It's nice this time of year to have a sense of energy for a new season starting, it makes you feel alive at the footy club, even when we're in Round 21. I think it’s an unreal idea for the double header... even in the future, try and get triple headers, get the VFL involved and make it a big day.” 

On the concept of more double-headers and playing in stadiums: 

 Vescio: “I feel like it's the only way forward: we've tried to play over summer and it's just a bit too hot. Hopefully we don't push that way once we extend the season. I feel like the only way is pushing back towards the men's season: I think it makes sense from a club unity piece, for the whole club. 

“It would be amazing. We've been building crowds over the years and people need to be able to build routine around games, to be able to play in stadiums and make that part of the W experience as well. 

“We're really lucky here at IKON that we've got a stadium… We might take that for granted a little bit. To play in those huge stadiums and attract bigger crowds, that would be an amazing thing for us." 

On who’s impressed over preseason: 

Vescio: “I'm going to say Siofra. I've been playing in the back line a fair bit, so getting to work alongside her and see the way she's grown her game, it’s been really exciting. As we saw over the weekend, the Irish players bring such an exciting element to the game and to see it up close and watch their development from week to week and also between seasons is really cool.” 

On the AFLW team’s approach to the 2026 season: 

Vescio: “Last year was pretty special. I feel like we were able to harness parts of our potential, but  [Mathew] Buck has been great in teaching how to learn and how to build year upon year. As soon as he came in, the inside the program was that he's got a really long-term vision for us. 

“I don't know how far we could go and I think that's what helped us last year. We didn't have any expectations or put any pressure on ourselves. We were able to just build week on week and know that, when Round 1 hits, we've still got so much potential to keep pushing and to keep building capacity as a team.”   

On the 76-point victory over Brisbane:  

Walsh: “it was a great win. I think we knew coming into the game that we had to play at a higher level, particularly having a few tough games against Brisbane in the past. You've always got that in the back of the mind. I thought it was the best four-quarter performance we've had for a fair while." 

On having 16 individual goalkickers last week: 

Walsh: “I was told that was a record or equal record which is pretty amazing, and a few of those individual ones gave everyone plenty of energy, particularly the Harry Dean one. That just showed we’re playing team footy, there's a lot of forwards that were pretty selfless too with sharing the ball and getting better looks inside 50. It was a pleasing night.” 

On whether the margin was surprising: 

“For everyone that’s played sport know when you're in the zone, you're not too worried about it. A good thing for us in the past couple of months is not riding the wave of what the scoreboard's showing us. It's sticking to being hard to play against within how we show up defensively, and then that'll keep us in games. It's been a balanced approach, and you look up and get the rewards at the end of the game.” 

On wildcard contention 

Walsh: “If someone had said when we were 1-8 that you'd be in contention, I probably wouldn't have believed them.  It's great to be in the hunt, but we know how quickly that can turn too. I think we've learned more than most that if you look too far ahead, you'll run into a bit of trouble.” 

On plans for Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and St Kilda: 

Walsh: “We started to look at a bit of the opposition today, but we'll start to talk about individuals over the next afternoon or so. He’s had a super year, very damaging. We played Saints earlier in the year and probably one of our poorer games for the year: you've got to have an appetite to really defend no matter who it is, but particularly him. We’re going to have to be switched on with our decision making and be ready for the fight.”