It was quickly back to reality for Western Bulldogs AFLW premiership player Kirsty Lamb.
One of the stars in the Bulldogs premiership win against the Brisbane Lions, Lamb didn’t have a lot of time to let the win settle in.
“It’s been a big couple of weeks,” she said.
“It was straight back into work. I went back after Mad Monday. I’ve been lucky, day to day life has been good and now the formal proceedings have slowed down and I’ve had a bit of time to reflect.”
Lamb said she could never have imagined playing in an AFLW premiership and said it was a dream come true.
She said the final siren in the grand final was something she would always remember.
“I found the closest player and wanted to jump on people.
“Emma Kearney, Deanna Berry and I fell on the ground hugging and thinking we had done it. It was a surreal feeling.”
In the second season of the AFLW competition, Lamb went from one of the Bulldogs lesser knowns, to one of their key players in a premiership season.
She finished third in the Bulldogs best and fairest, behind league best and fairest Emma Kearney and Ellie Blackburn.
Lamb said a chat after last season was the instigator for the improvement in her game.
She also paid tribute to Bulldogs development coach Andrew Shakespeare and the work he does.
“I spoke with Paul Groves about what I needed to do better,” she said. “Fitness was the biggest thing I needed to work on to get more time in the middle of the game.
“Also, working on my close-in skills and my contested footy skills to get the ball out to the likes of Emma Kearney and Ellie Blackburn.
“Andrew has helped us to get our skills to an acceptable level in AFLW.
“As it goes on the standard will increase and he’s given us different techniques and views.
“It’s not just kicking, marking and handballing, it’s a lot more than that.”
While putting in extra work over the off season, Lamb also made one of the toughest decisions she’s faced – she gave up playing cricket.
Lamb had been part of the VicSpirit team and the Melbourne Renegades WBBL team, making her one of the best players in the state.
But the former Plenty Valley Victorian Premier Cricket captain decided to focus on football.
“I completely stopped playing cricket around July/August,” she said. “It was a tough decision, but has been the best decision for me.
“I wasn’t loving cricket as much as I was footy and it meant I didn’t have to worry about cricket over the summer.
“I would have loved to have played Big Bash which had a lot of hype though.”
Lamb is already looking to take her game to the next level in the third season of the AFLW competition.
She’s still yet to decide where she’ll play during the VFL season, but hopes to stay part of the blue, red and white for next year’s AFLW season.
“The Bulldogs are home for me and I have no plans to play elsewhere,” she said. “I love the club.”
