IT HAS been a tough start to the season for Carlton, who have only won one of their fives games heading into the bye this week. 

The Blues have played strong football, with results often not reflecting some of Carlton’s performances.

This is especially true for Millie Klingbeil, who has had a stellar start to her 2022 campaign.

While her performance last week was not her best by her own admission, Klingbeil has been a shining light for the Blues so far, averaging around 18 disposals, five tackles and five clearances per game.

Klingbeil said her great start has had a lot to do with the work she’s put in with coach and Carlton premiership player Ian Aitken, who has helped her over the past 10 months.

“He’s been really important in how my footy has changed because we’ve been meeting every week and going through more technical areas of my skills, but also stuff like thinking about leading patterns,” she said.

“He’s been really influential in how that’s changed my footy, because last season I was getting a lot of games, but I wasn’t having a massive amount of impact on games.”

Another reason Klingbeil has seen such an improvement in her form is her motivation to be drafted for the AFLW, with the next season now only around the corner.

“With the expansion happening at the end of the year, I’d love to put myself in the best possible position when draft day does come around to be selected,” she said.

“If I was to get drafted, I’m feeling confident that my fitness would mean I would be able to roll straight from a VFL season into an AFL season.”

Those who haven’t seen Klingbeil play before this season would be forgiven for thinking that she has always been a class above when she plays, however the truth of the matter is that Klingbeil was a late comer to football, making her meteoric rise all the more staggering.

Klingbeil was always a lover of sport growing up, with school quite often taking a back seat to ensure her passion was the focus.

However, she only started to play football in her final year of high school back in 2016, after she saw her friend playing, realising then how fun the sport was.

Her first breakthrough came when she had a successful tryout with Geelong’s VFLW program.

She surprised herself when she made the squad, and even though she was delisted at the end of her second season, Klingbeil believed her time at Geelong was positive.

“Being an 18-year-old, living out of home the first time, going and playing VFL down in Geelong, having to take the train, it showed me that if I really want something I’ve got to really put in the effort,” she said.

“Geelong was a fairly older team and being around those older girls was really beneficial.”

Klingbeil’s passion and commitment to football is unquestionable and it stems from her desire to play AFLW, a goal that is driving her this season.

“Once footy became an option for girls, I was thinking ‘this is incredible’, and I’ve loved it as soon as I stepped onto the field,” she said.

“Personally, I know that playing footy at the highest level is the dream for me, so I think that I’d drop everything to play at that level.”

In the space of six years, Klingbeil has gone from someone who has never played the game before, to Carlton’s best performing VFLW player, so it stands to reason then that in six years’ time, all of Australia’s footy fans could know the name Amelia Klingbeil.

Benjamin Hann is a student at La Trobe University, undergoing his Bachelor of Media and Communications (Sports Journalism). He is currently undertaking an internship at the Carlton Football Club as part of its partnership with La Trobe University.