CELINE Moody’s journey to 50 AFLW games hasn’t been the same as most, particularly when compared to twin sister Brea.

While Brea was running out on IKON Park for the first-ever AFLW match in 2017, Celine was sitting in the stands watching on, having just enlisted in the army the year prior to the AFL announcing a draft for the new competition.

Having signed a six-year commitment to the Australian Defence Force, Celine had to put her football aspirations on hold, instead cheering on her sister from both the sidelines and the barracks.

Being posted to the Melbourne barracks meant that Celine was able to go along to the come-and-try session held by Carlton for their first-ever VFLW side in 2018, a year after her sister made her debut in front of 25,000 people.

That night, a contract was signed, and after just 12 games in the program, Celine was picked up as a rookie by the Western Bulldogs.

“I’m not going to lie: it was hard for a few years balancing football and the army," Celine said. 

“It was probably four or five years where my work in the army overlapped with my commitments to footy as well, I was just very lucky that both parties were incredibly supportive.

“The time I spent in the army taught me so much about working as a member of a team, resilience, professionalism, and all those things that put me in pretty good stead as a professional footballer as well.”

After spending six seasons with the Western Bulldogs, Celine made the move back to IKON Park where her journey began and joined sister Brea in the Navy Blue, which Brea described as “special”.

“It’s very special to play with her. I think even more so after playing against each other, it’s pretty cool to now have experienced both what it feels like as opponents and now as teammates,” Brea said.

“This time last year I had this little glimmer of hope that I could maybe get her across to the Blues, but never did I think ‘oh hang on, we could actually be playing some milestones together’.

“It’s pretty cool and obviously pretty special for the family as well.”

Looking back at her past 50 games, Celine credits her resilience through injury setbacks to thinking of herself when she played her first ever season of football for the South Belgrave Saints under-11 boys team, being the only girl not only in the team, but in the league.

“I just think back to all the boys around me who wanted to be Matthew Richardson or Jonathan Brown, and there wasn’t anyone that I could look up to that motivated or encouraged me to stay with the sport,” Celine said.

“When I had issues with my shoulder or when I had issues with my ankle, it very easily could’ve been ‘oh well, I had a crack, I’ll go back to my full-time job now.'

“But I think back to me running around in the South Belgrave colours and not having anyone to look up to: it made me want to do my rehab right and get my fitness back on track.

“Even if it’s one person out there that looks up to me, that’s more than I had, and I hope that I’m inspiring them to stay with the sport and hopefully get the love and enjoyment that I do.”

With just two games left of the 2024 season - including game No.50 this Sunday - Celine says that she hopes the Blues can finish off strong.

While the team as a whole have struggled with consistency this season, Celine said she personally has also struggled to hit her strides in her first year as a Blue, adding that she hopes she personally can get the most out of these final two games.

“I hope in these last two games we can reinforce the things we are getting right as well as see the things we do need to keep working on so that we can hit the ground running in the off-season,” Celine said.

“I think we just need to keep reminding ourselves that it wasn’t that long ago that we went through a pretty significant change. The group is probably still getting to know each other on those deeper levels that you need to be a successful team in this competition."