“I ACTUALLY started playing at school – I always kicked the footy with Dad at the park which I loved. It wasn’t until year 7 when we played a little scratch match and my teacher said 'you should definitely play local footy'”.

The rest is history for Mimi Hill. 

Coming into her fourth AFLW season, Hill has proved not only her football ability, but her aptitude for leadership and her hunger for learning. 

Speaking to Sarah Black on the 'Passing the Torch' podcast, Hill reflected on her first leadership role as the captain of the Oakleigh Chargers.

“I was 16 – It was a good learning experience…I was learning on the go and it was really nice to be voted in by my teammates, I had good support from my vice captains because they were in the top age year,” Hill said.

“I wasn’t an amazing leader at that point but I think the next year when I got to be captain again, I felt really comfortable with it.” 

Hill learnt a number of things about what it took to be a leader in her first captaincy experience and was able to overcome a lot of fear and awkwardness around guiding people older than her. 

With her football IQ and knowledge of the game, Hill was able to use that to assert her position and gain trust among her teammates. 

“Leading people older than you – I felt a bit awkward about it because I’m not sure if people wanted to listen to someone younger than them,” she said. 

“It didn’t need to be everything I knew about footy - I was still raw to the game - but it was more how I interacted with people and my relationships, ensuring the whole team felt included and safe.”

Having spent her entire time at the Blues under the leadership of captain Kerryn Peterson, the 2022 NAB AFLW Rising Star has found her to be a leader worthy of emulating, noting their close relationship and all that she has learnt from the skipper. 

One thing Hill admires most about Peterson is the way she addresses the group, with the 20-year-old keen to improve her public speaking ability as she progresses. 

“‘Kez’ has been a great mentor for me and I think she’ll admit herself that she’s developed as a leader over the past five years,” she said. 

“She just wants to help and she’s really passionate about Carlton and the team, anything she can do to help, she will.

“‘Kez’ is a really good public speaker, which is something I want to get better at, so how she addresses the group, I need to work on that.”

The much anticipated season is upon the group, with Hill referencing the change in high-performance standards that her team have undergone this pre-season. 

One huge factor in this - Hill says - is the daytime training and education that the Club has provided them, allowing the AFLW program to flourish as elite athletes. 

“High performance is our main focus and the way we’re doing it is training during the daytime – I feel like an elite athlete, not there past 6:00pm, which is unheard of in AFLW,” she said.

“We have a lot of new players, and there’s a lot of education but it’s happening and I’m enjoying the learning, especially with nutrition, I did not know how much you needed to eat. 

“In the gym, we’re staying really focused, switched on, and then a whole new coaching group who are driving the standards.” 

The young midfielder has been busy over pre-season, building relationships in her new position and trying to enhance her football as well as her personal skills. 

With connection a key focus for the midfielder, Hill admits that she’s been trying to create new links with each player, hoping that her efforts will result in her being able to give more honest feedback within the group. 

“It’s all about relationships for me – I pride myself on being able to connect with a whole different range of people, which is what footy clubs are,” she said. 

“I have that ability to pass on a bit of knowledge and still figuring out how to give feedback – you don’t want to come across as patronising but I think that’s something we’re working on as a team – giving and receiving feedback, it’s how we’re going to get better.” 

On feedback, one of the benefits of training during the day has allowed Hill to observe the men’s training sessions, taking note of their communication, training standards and relationships. 

A keen observer of footy, Hill has taken positives from these sessions and is now thinking about how she can incorporate this into her training. 

“When I watch AFLM training, they’re so direct with their feedback, sometimes from the outside, it seems jarring,” she said. 

“We don’t speak to each other like that, but that’s a real area for improvement because we do need to be a bit more direct – you only have a split second to give feedback on the footy field.” 

With a big list turnover in the off-season, a lot of new faces have graced IKON Park in the recent months, but with a ‘lead-in’ to pre-season with non-compulsory skills sessions, Hill said that everyone has slotted in seamlessly. 

Looking ahead to the season, Hill had a few names to give on who she thinks is going to take the competition by storm, with new and old names making an appearance. 

“[Phoebe McWilliams and Mia Austin], as a midfielder, I’m excited for that, they’re a pretty dynamic duo,” she said. 

“That’s a pretty scary forward line if you ask me, they both fly high and I’m keen to kick it to them. 

“Lulu Beatty, I really like how she plays – I watched a bit of her in the VFLW and I always get around her for her one percenters, because she goes back with the flight multiple times a game which is admirable.

“Marianna, or ‘Mez’, she was a train-on at North Melbourne for a bit, so she’s learnt alongside one of the best. She’s brought in a lot of knowledge herself, she’s exciting and has a good pair of wheels on her.”

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