HARD times, gonna make you wonder why you even try.
And Mimi Hill and the Blues have been through their fair share.
It’s easy to forget that a young Mimi Hill arrived at IKON Park at such an exciting time for Carlton’s AFLW program. Hill was selected in the first round of the 2020 AFL Women’s Draft, on the back of two seasons where the Blues made the 2019 Grand Final and qualified for a preliminary final that ultimately never was in 2020.
But it was at that time where things took a turn. Both personally and collectively, Hill had to endure in her first five years at IKON Park, with finals football rarely a realistic possibility in that time as wholesale, disruptive change swept both the Club and competition.
Having to also overcome an ACL injury in her first season, it took Hill over 50 games to get her first taste of finals football - she’s now due to play her sixth final in just over 12 months when Carlton takes on Melbourne next Saturday in a prelim.
“It makes nights like this even better,” Hill said following the stirring semi final win over Hawthorn.
“You can think of other teams where when you walk into success, you don’t know how hard the hard times are. We definitely know how hard those times are - and it just means these times are even better.
“I dreamt of playing in finals. Now here we are, and we’re winning them. It’s pretty cool.”
Hill was one of the team’s leaders that stood up when the Blues needed on Saturday night, particularly after the Hawks kicked the first three goals of the contest.
After having their colours lowered early, the Blues’ midfield got to work and helped change the momentum in another game where the group's character was on display, as lauded by AFLW Senior Coach Mathew Buck post-game.
“That’s one of our biggest strengths, our resilience. It didn’t use to be, but we’ve worked on it for many years," Hill said.
“The thing about Carlton is we had a big chunk of time where we lost a lot. We know what it’s like to be down, but we come back - and I had no doubt we would come back.”
Carlton’s team of 21 is an indication of the journey this group has been on together. Only two Blues played in those finals series of 2019 and 2020, those of course being inaugural Game Changers Gab Pound and Darcy Vescio.
Hill was one of seven first-round draft picks the Blues have selected when including Maddy Hendrie in the supplemental draft of 2023. Sophie McKay was another of those as a father-daughter selection, with sister and now captain Abbie taken by the same mechanism early in the second round of 2018.
Five players were traded into the Club, three of them recruited from Ireland. Then there was former basketballer Jess Good as an undrafted free agent, plus Lily Goss and Nell Morris-Dalton via the VFLW Blues.
Leading the charge in that has been Mathew Buck, who on Saturday night coached the team for the 50th time. Not realising her coach’s own milestone (“That’s been swept under the rug!”), Hill was glowing in her praise for a coach who recently penned a two-year extension to remain at IKON Park.
“We don’t really speak about it enough, but when ‘Bucky’ came in, he listened to us. He asked us what we needed, and we told him we need to train during the daytime. He was like ‘Right, let’s do it’… he really pushed for that hard at the Club, and I’m so grateful for that.
“He has grown heaps over the journey and he’d admit to that as well… I really love being coached by ‘Bucky’, I know a lot of the players do.
“It’s a good time to be at Carlton.”
