Hamilton Kangaroos' Carlie Smith vying for back-to-back WVFFL premierships

The 41-year-old might be slight by nature but she's the first one to commit to a contest and can often be found at the bottom of the pack.

The Casterton-based Smith was among the Kangaroos' best in their elimination final win against Tyrendarra last weekend. She is firmly focused on helping her team capture back-to-back Western Victoria Female Football League women's flags ahead of Sunday's preliminary final against last year's grand finalist Horsham Demons in Stawell.

"I would probably call myself pretty gusty," Smith told The Standard. "On the weekend just gone, I would have got five or six free kicks just from being first to the ball. If there is a loose ball, I'm like the bottom of the pack. And I've still got a bit of speed for an old lady."

Smith's work as a wool-classer has the added benefit of making her physically strong.

"People look at me and look at how little I am and go 'oh'... but I'm quite physically strong from being in the shearing sheds," she said. "I think they get a shock."

Smith is one of several Kangaroos playing football 12 months of the year, as she splits her time at her home club Casterton-Sandford in the Limestone Coast Women's Football League before returning for the Kangaroos in the Western Victoria Female Football League.

"We're (Casterton) the only Victorian team in the (Limestone) competition, so there is a lot of girls that play for Casterton as well as Hamilton," she said. "I think we have that little bit of a team bond in that way, playing for the 12 months."

The Kangaroos' unique list - which also includes girls from Penola to Mount Gambier - admittedly poses a logistical challenge, with some slight overlap of the LCWFL and WVFFL seasons.

"A lot of us had to miss that first game against Horsham, which they beat us in, because we had our last game in our Limestone comp and it was a (semi) final," Smith said.

Smith, who first started playing football six years ago for Murray Felines Female Football Club in the AFL North East Border Female Football League, admitted people often asked her why she put herself through two seasons. Her answer always comes back to her love of the game and the buzz she gets watching players new to the sport rise up the ranks.

"Honestly, I do just love it," she said. "There is some girls who are taking the field this weekend, who three years ago at training, could barely mark a football. To see their progress, where they are now playing their parts for our team to be progressing to where it is, and their development - that's where I get my biggest buzz from football now."

Smith's days are jam-packed as a working single mother of Livy, 6, but both love being part of the "exciting times" at Hamilton.

"I drop her off at 6.30am and am home by 5pm, then running off to training," Smith said. "But my daughter loves it too. She's a real part of it, she knows all the theme songs. And the girls and (coach) Pat (Sherlock) are so family orientated so it really helps. The club is totally supportive of all that which is fantastic."

Smith is hoping to do her part in a preliminary final against Horsham and is confident with their whole team on the park, the Roos can take it up to anyone.

"I think we nearly had our full side (against Tyrendarra on Sunday), which we hadn't had a full side on the field all year," she said. "I think that did help us."

Smith acknowledged there was some pressure on the Roos in the early rounds, coming into the season reigning premiers. The team lost its first three games but has found its feet as the year progressed, winning eight of its past 10 games.

"We did feel at that point... maybe we had to take a step back and have a little re-group," Smith said of the first month. "But in saying that, when we started (clicking), and I can't remember what game it was, I remember messaging Pat after the game, saying 'today's game was the best and if this is what we've got to come, we're peaking at the right time of year'."

Smith understands the challenge Horsham poses in the preliminary final, and expects the Demons to come out with a chip on their shoulder and seeking revenge after losing last year's grand final.

"A lot of us (in Hamilton and Horsham) have played against each other in the Limestone Coast competition... I think that will come into it a wee bit," she said. "We probably know a bit about each other's games playing the two comps."

The midfielder is also excited at a possible grand final match-up against minor premier South Warrnambool.

"South Warrnambool, you can tell they're a gelled unit, they're going to take a lot of beating whoever gets to play them," she said.

Smith is seeking her third premiership flag in three years, after winning the 2022 LCWFL premiership with Casterton-Sandford prior to her flag at Hamilton. She said it had been a "real buzz" to be a part of Hamilton's journey, from from starting on the bottom of the ladder and being unable to field sides some weeks, to winning a premiership and being in the running for a second in 2023.

A third premiership would be the cherry on top of a whirlwind two years for Smith, who until last year had been starved of any premiership success.

"It was pretty amazing, literally having the two premiership cups for one year," she said. "Standing up there, I was literally saying to the younger ones, you need to embrace this, I've played sport for 40 years to win a premiership. This means so much. (And) if I do get the chance to go for back-to-back flags, it would be pretty high up on my little list of achievements."

Bringing another premiership back to Hamilton and enhancing a legacy would mean a lot to Smith and her teammates, after being blown away by the positive response and respect given to the team last year for winning the club's first senior flag since merging the Hamilton Imperials and Magpies.

"They said we created history on that day," she said.

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