“IT MEANS a lot.” 

Ahead of ANZAC Day, Celine Moody reflected on her six and a half years spent serving in the army, as well as the rich history of those who came before her. 

In 2016, Moody decided to enlist, where she worked and trained in the Signals Corp - a time of her life that she looks back on fondly. 

“I enlisted into the army in 2016 and I ended up serving for six and a half years, and the majority of the time was spent in the Signals Corp,” Moody said. 

“It’s a communications and IT-based role and I was in training specifically.”

However, football was always the goal for the 27-year-old, with the army accommodating the dream and giving Moody options to play football in the army, as well as pursue her AFLW career. 

While she didn’t get to experience the full defence deployment, she is grateful that she chose to spend her time there.

“For a large portion of my army career, I was also pursuing football and I’m very grateful to the army for accommodating those endeavours,” she said. 

“Unfortunately, it meant I wasn’t able to deploy or promote, which I think is something that might haunt me – if you envision training for a footy game for six years and never getting to play, that’s how I think of that.” 

Friends with many people who still serve, 25 April has a special significance for Moody, and she took the time to reach out and thank them for their service whilst also paying her respect. 

“ANZAC Day for me is a big day of reflection, paying my respects to all those who have served and continue serving today in the Defence Force as a whole,” she said. 

“I like to think of the time I spent in the army and the people that I served alongside. I’ll always send a few messages and try to re-connect with those people, let them know I’m still thinking of them.”

Being in the army has taught Moody many invaluable lessons that she won’t forget, and a lot of those lessons have directly helped her successful football career. 

From discipline to motivation, she implements her skills every day and is sure to pass her learnings on to her teammates. 

“There are some huge correlations I think between being in the army and then a team sport,” she said. 

“The defence force prides itself so much on camaraderie, and working as a team and that’s something we do here.

“There’s a lot of discipline in all of your roles in the defence force and you have to be quite disciplined to be successful as a footballer as well.”