How a quote derived from a US president's speech is inspiring AFLW players

There is a quote that AFLW players often come back to by an American academic, which draws from a former US president.

Author Brene Brown, in her popular book Daring Greatly, pens: "If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback."

Here, Brown references Theodore Roosevelt's famous 1910 Man in the Arena speech, in which he argues: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles … credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood."

Or, in this case, women on a sporting field.

In the last month, players and AFL stakeholders have been forced to publicly back the league's continued investment in the competition after reports clubs were told the AFLW was losing $50 million a year.

It comes as a condensed fixture last year, which featured midweek games, saw average home-and-away crowds reach just 2,600.

A lot has changed since Gab Pound first took the field back in 2017 for the inaugural game between Collingwood and Carlton. (ABC: Scott Jewell)

"We talk a lot about the person in the arena," Gab Pound, inaugural Carlton player, told ABC Sport.

"Because feedback is the biggest thing in sports for athletes … [but] how do you take feedback when there can be a lot of noise and things coming from all these different places?

"We kind of bring ourselves back to the arena. And if you're not in the arena with us, battling it out, your opinion doesn't really matter to us."

Players have said they welcome performance critiques and have called for greater coverage of their games, including criticism, but argue it is fair game when it comes from people who regularly watch their games and understand the competition's contexts.

Gab Pound in action during the 2017 AFLW opener between Carlton and Collingwood. (Getty: AFL Photos)

However, for all the recent noise, the competition has come leaps and bounds from when Pound took the field for the very first game between Collingwood and Carlton eight years ago.

Pound was 21 when she was drafted, coming from the Darebin Falcons like many inaugural players, including Daisy Pearce, Libby Birch, Darcy Vescio, Jess Dal Pos and Paxy Paxman.

The step up from VFLW to AFLW, Pound said, was a keenly felt one.

"Just the fact we got paid a little bit of money, we were kind of just, 'Is this a real kind of thing', because when I grew up, there was just no aspiration there," Pound said.

"I grew up in Albury and country footy where there were no girls playing football.

"I was really excited when school came around [because] we played those little round robins each year."

Gab Pound from Carlton celebrates with teammates in the AFLW's 2017 opener. (Getty: AFL Photos)

When Pound debuted, her teammate Keeley Sherar, the reigning club best and fairest, did not even play footy yet.

Without a pathway yet, she played netball in her tween years.

"I feel like players like Gab really built the foundations for what we get to do now," Sherar said.

"I think I have two little sisters, they're in grade six and year nine, and they've been playing since Aus Kick, so I think it's awesome.

"I didn't get that opportunity and they've really got this amazing pathway and so much opportunity, which a lot of us didn't have when we were younger."

Keeley Shehar was named Carlton's best and fairest in 2024. (Getty: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos)

Sherar said a lot of girls in her sister's under 12 team come and watch her play along with her family.

They recently made a "hot wheels" sign for one of her games; her nickname at the club.

"I see them every Sunday and watch their games and they inspire me because I'm like, 'You guys are 12 years old and you're so good and have just so much energy,'" Sherar said.

"That's something that really sticks with me … that's why I love playing, to inspire them."

Gab Pound says AFLW players often talk about Brene Brown's quotes about being in the arena. (ABC: Scott Jewell)

Pound said perceptions of AFLW had changed a lot over her time and she was starting to really see a shift, even in the media, towards appreciating how women could "play great competitive football".

"The more support that we have, such as that investment through all levels of grassroots, all the way up to the pro level, it's only going to improve the product," Pound said.

"And then I think that reflection to the wider society as well, it's only going to do good things for the perception of women."

She said there was such a "big open space" for women's sport to take off in Australia.

"Women's sport can go in such a good direction … you see that in American basketball at the moment, unreal," Pound said.

"The crowds that they get, the hype that they get, it's just incredible, and that's something I want to see in future generations for AFLW.

"There's such a product [there] waiting to really explode".

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