“Grandma and I wore her down after a while,” Down said.
“It took about six months.”
She was half the age of some of her teammates in the under-14s team.
Twelve years of playing and a few too many bumps and lumps later, the now 19-year-old has taken on her first coaching role as an assistant for Shepparton United Football Netball Club’s youth girls’ team.
It’s the same team she joined as a player at 13.
“I love the club, I love the girls, so I put my hand up and I got it,” Down said.
“It felt really good that I could still be involved and help teach the younger girls.”
Down played last season with the Demons’ women’s team.
She recalls getting a severe thumb dislocation toward the end of the third quarter of the grand final against Echuca last year.
“I was watching the live scores from hospital,” she said.
“And we lost by one point.”
The injury was the last in a line that had her reconsidering her future.
“I just wanted to play and play and play until I couldn’t play anymore,” Down said.
“But I had some headknocks and injuries and I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
While she hasn’t entirely decided if her playing career is over for good, she knows that unless a women’s match is at the same ground the youth girls she’s now coaching is being played, she will not be lacing up her boots.
“I just want to be there for the girls, more than anything else,” Down said.
“Coaching is something I’d like to do well into the future and have some success with hopefully.”
The commitment needed to the role is substantial for the young truck driver who works full time at Keating Freight Lines.
Besides two training nights each week and a game on the weekend, she must also come up with training plans and drills in between times.
“I find it enjoyable. I love the game so much that it’s second nature,” Down said.
“I love seeing the girls develop, so I think of ways I can help them improve.”
The team lost seven players who aged up after last season, but Down says she is confident the current group of girls can get back to the former cohort’s level.
They started training for the upcoming season before Christmas ahead of the season opener in April, but are still welcoming any girls who want to sign up.
Down said while the club did host specific come-and-try sessions, essentially every training session was one.
“We even have a 12-year-old training with the team at the moment who is not eligible to play until she’s 13, but doesn’t have the confidence to play with the boys yet,” Down said.
It’s no secret that women and girls’ football has struggled to attract sufficient numbers to fill entire sides, but Down said there was a lot more support for the sport these days than in the past.
She encouraged any girls interested to give it a crack.
“It’s not as scary and as hard as everyone thinks it is,” she said.
“One thing I love about it, it’s not bitchy, it’s a supportive environment.
“They’re not competing against each other; they are competing against other teams with each other.”
Down is assistant to Luke Maskell, who is also in his first season as a coach.
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