AT THE start of the week - even as late as Thursday morning - the game wasn’t even meant to be taking place in the 2022 home-and-away season.
And yet on Sunday morning, older sister Maddy woke up with the bragging rights in the Prespakis household after her first game against younger sister, Georgie.
There wouldn’t have been two more excited people when the fixture announcement came through that Carlton would head down the highway to take on Geelong, instead of clashes with Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs respectively.
The contest didn’t disappoint.
Fresh off of last week’s NAB AFLW Rising Star nomination, Georgie Prespakis was one of her side’s best, finishing with 15 disposals and four clearances.
However, a career-high tally for disposals for Maddy proved to be crucial in Carlton’s 14-point win.
Speaking to FOX Footy post-match, it was clear that the occasion got to the 21-year-old.
“I’m trying not to get emotional, but to play against my sister is something I’ll be forever grateful for,” Prespakis said.
“We’ve never done it before, so to live our dream playing AFLW and run out against her… it was the best experience ever.
“I’m sure it’s a day we’ll never forget.”
Both stationed in the midfield, it was only a matter of time before the paths of the two sisters crossed.
When the game was announced on Thursday, Maddy forecast that she “wouldn’t be taking it easy” on her younger sister, but that’s not to say there wasn’t a scare in the final term.
Some friendly fire with a teammate when Georgie went to tackle her older sister saw her leave the ground via the blood rule, with Maddy admitting that she thought it could’ve been worse.
“The amount of blood she had coming out, I thought she broke it! I felt pretty bad,” she said.
“Lucky they had a few more long sleeves on the bench to give it to her.”
The response from her sister?
“I’m feeling pretty good. Although it’s not great not to get the win, Maddy wasn’t lying when she said she was going to go out and tackle me as hard as she could,” Georgie said.
“Cop that.”
The late announcement caused a few adjustments in the Prespakis household: namely, parents Damien and Jodie venturing from Echuca to Geelong.
Unsurprisingly, it was a night which the two of them - particularly Maddy, given the result - wouldn’t change for the world.
“We both left on Thursday morning to go to training and said good luck to each other, then I get to training and she called me saying ‘we’re playing against each other!’
“It was just the best.
“We knew we weren’t scheduled to play against each other in the home-and-away season, so to do it last minute is awesome.”
