Tara Murray
The move to the wing has paid off for Western Bulldogs young gun Isabelle Pritchard who was recognised with a NAB AFL rising star nomination.
Pritchard became the third Bulldogs player to receive a nomination when she was one of the final two nominees along with Darcy Moloney.
Pritchard, who played her junior football at Spotswood, said she was shocked to receive the nomination.
“It’s super exciting and unexpected,” she said. “It’s super humbling.
“Burkey [coach Nathan Burke] called me and I was confused when I saw his number. I missed the call.
“The season had finished so I knew I couldn’t be dropped, so I thought it would be good news.”
Pritchard, who is in her second season with the Bulldogs said it was nice to get some consistency in her game.
She played every game this season after making her debut in round six in 2021.
“I was moved out on the wing,” she said. “I had rarely played out there ever.
“It’s a challenging position I had to understand. I wasn’t used to getting the outside ball, so I had to learn the game from a different position.
“Just learn and add another element to my game.”
Pritchard said the faith put in her by the coaching staff helped her to start to make the role her own.
She said they knew that she would make mistakes, but it was something she could learn from and the coaches kept encouraging her.
“Natalie Wood who was the mids coach, was a mid herself and understood the position more than me.
“She was really good at coaching me and keeping me developing and growing. It was really an opportunity for me to learn a new position.”
Pritchard said the season had been a challenging one, with COVID-19 meaning the club had to handle a number of different situations.
It included a lot of games late in the season.
“It was quite a hard season with the volume of games towards the back end,” she said.
“We were recovering from COVID. It showed the resilience in the team to get some important wins on the board for us.
“It will carry us through into the following seasons. It brought us together with the trials and tribulations.
“It’s really exciting to be building something special. We’re starting to implement the game plan we’ve been working on the last couple of seasons.
“We’re excited for what is ahead.”
