ANOTHER UNLUCKY BREAK FOR ZALI
NOBODY wants to be a spectator on grand final day.
But despite playing eight matches and serving in the leadership group, that’s exactly where Zali Cheffers found herself after she snapped her fibula in two places midway through the 2019 QAFLW development season.
Growing up in country Victoria with a dad who used to play Aussie rules, footy was in Cheffers’ blood.
In high school, netball was her code of choice until mates convinced her to give her dad’s game a crack.
She headed down to the Burleigh Bombers for training that afternoon and played for the club for two years before making the switch to Bond University in 2018.
Midway through the 2019 season, Cheffers and her teammates could feel something special was building. They’d only lost one game and had won others by sizeable margins.
But in Round 8, against Aspley, disaster struck for Cheffers.
“We’d just run out after half-time and I was pretty happy with my game, from memory,” she said.
“I don’t remember too much about how it happened but I remember hearing lots of cracks and I looked over into the crowd at my dad and said, ‘Dad I’ve just snapped my leg’ because I knew deep down it wasn’t good.
“I waited for an ambulance in the rooms and then we got to hospital and had some X-rays done.
“My fibula had snapped in two places which, at the time, was a good result because they decided not to operate and told me it would be about a six-week turnaround.
“I went to training the next Monday and told everyone I’d be back for the grand final because I was quite confident we were going to make it, and even though I wasn’t sure what was going to happen on the day, I knew it was achievable with the team we had.”
Six weeks later, and Cheffers returned to hospital for further scans.
As her mum sat by her side, her doctor revealed that that the injury hadn’t healed in the slightest and she may as well have broken her leg the day before.
As Cheffers had predicted, Bond earned a grand final place, as did Coorparoo, and though she tried to take her place on the bench to encourage her teammates, strict grand final rules forced her to sit behind the fence with spectators.
Despite finding itself one point behind at the final change, Bond stormed home to claim the 2019 title 26-21.
“I started crying straight away and wore my sunglasses during the whole aftermath to hide it,” Cheffers said. “When we got into the rooms, our coach Emma (Williams) had my guernsey and a medal to present me with, which was a special moment.”
After a tiresome rehabilitation process, Cheffers rejoined her teammates earlier this season for training, only to feel “off” and discover she needed a full ankle, which will likely mean sitting out the rest of the year.
Bond University restarts its QAFLW season on Saturday against Coolangatta Bluebirds with development kicking off at 11am, followed by seniors at 1am at Eximm Oval.
THE inaugural Southport Sharks women’s team will have no problem winning admiration in 2020.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sharks will join Surfers Paradise as the two newest Gold Coast inductees to the QFAW Division One League.
The 4.45pm clash against the Demons at Sir Bruce Small Park marks the first time in Southport’s history it will field a women’s senior team.
And with the NEAFL cancelled for 2020, coach and former Eagles and Suns AFL player Ryan Davis believes his side will do the club proud as the only senior Sharks side running around this season.
“We’re the only team representing the club this year so it’s groundbreaking,” Davis said.
“The group is extremely excited to make history and the energy at training has been through the roof. We’ve obviously had to push our start back due to COVID-19 but most of the girls started training in November so they’ve had a longer pre-season than the AFLW girls.
“We have a lot of girls from different backgrounds ranging from some who haven’t played at all to seasoned players, but we had a pre-season camp post-Christmas in Canungra, which was a turning point for our group.”
Some 15 former Sharks juniors have returned to join the squad of 31 after spreading their wings at other clubs. One of them is vice-captain Emily Stewart.
Hannah Davies and Ellie O’Brien are co-captains.
“One of the biggest things for me is to have a pathway for our juniors all the way to AFLW so it’s really exciting to get those former juniors back who want that honour of pulling on the black-and-white guernsey,” Davis said.
And although slightly “jumping the gun” Davis and the club hope their inaugural season will pave the way for a QAFLW side in the coming years.
“We’ll take this season as it comes but the goal for the football club is to have a team at the highest level,” Davis said.
In other QFAW division one action, Robina faces Burleigh in a 2019 semi-final rematch at Scottsdale Drive.
Southport is indebted to Kool Kids Training College, Lexus of Southport, Bidfood and Zone Sports for staying on board as sponsors.