While Jordy Allen will pull on the black and white stripes for the 50th time this Sunday, there’s another uniform that’s equally important to her.
While they are different colours, they’re not for a different team – with Allen suiting up as a paramedic one day a week as part of work placement for her university course.
The day after a game is often when that time comes, meaning her post-match recovery is often inhibited by an early wake up and a 10-plus hour shift – not the quintessential schedule for an athlete.
“I probably underestimated the time commitment to be fair,” Allen said.
“I think I had to do 240 hours of placement in the last six months and it’s all unpaid. I went up to Wangaratta for a week, stayed by myself up there fully self-supported.
“Most other students would have to do their placements in a block format but because I don’t have the time and don’t have the flexibility with training, Uni has allowed me to do it at a branch near home and only do it once a week and tick it off really slowly.
“I’m really indebted to Uni and to the footy club for making it work. I’ve been doing a lot of my placements on the Monday because we haven’t had training and because I need a whole entire day.
“If I start at seven the shift is supposed to end at five but there’s no guarantee. We might get a call at 4:30pm for someone who is really unwell and we’re the closest truck and we’ve got to go.
“I might do a 12-hour shift when I was expecting to do a 10-hour shift.”
That’s all on top of her training schedule and a full-time study load, meaning there’s barely a moment of rest in the life of the Pies’ reigning best & fairest winner.
Tuesdays and Wednesday combine both Uni and training, while Thursdays and Fridays can be just as busy, something Allen didn’t expect when she entered the league.
“I thought that I would’ve had a few years under my belt to study and then work as a paramedic and then make the decision a bit later, but I’ve had to make the decision a lot earlier in my career and that’s through my performance on the field as well, I didn’t expect to be where I would be at 23,” she said.
“This year I didn’t plan on going back to full-time study and at the beginning of the year I was honestly going to drop out because at the beginning of the degree I wasn’t aware that AFLW was going to build this much momentum.
“It was okay for the first four or five months of the year, and I was handling the load really well and then coming into pre-season the time commitment we’ve had to have within our four walls is significantly greater than any other season I’ve had in the past.
“To be able to balance that with placement I really underestimated not only the time commitment to the actual coursework, but that as well.”
It makes Allen’s now six-season career all the more remarkable.
Coming into the Club via Pick five in the 2018 NAB AFLW Draft, the 23-year-old was highly touted given her composure and leadership.
The defender always knew she wanted to be a footballer, but says it wasn’t until the success of the competition’s inaugural year that she knew it could be a career path for her.
“I remember I went to the very first game of AFLW – Carlton versus Collingwood at Ikon Park – and I remember just being like ‘this is the coolest thing ever’,” she said.
“It was nice to see it set itself up for one or two years and then come in once it had been established because I don’t think anyone knew how far it was going to go.
“I think if it had of flopped completely in that first year there might not ever have been a future for us, but because we did get so much momentum behind it I could actually see myself being an AFLW player.
“I remember going to the exhibition matches when I was like 13 and it still felt so far away, and it wasn’t until that first game that I was like ‘I actually think this could be a pathway for me’.”
Now upon such a significant milestone, Allen is trying to embrace the extra responsibility as an experienced campaigner.
“I don’t know where the 50 games have gone to be honest,” she said.
“It feels like yesterday that I came into the Club, and I still feel very fresh.
“To be considered one of the most experienced players on the list and I’m only 23, it’s something I probably need to accept a bit more and embrace.
“The fact that I’m probably one of the more experienced players I haven’t really processed it. I Should really lean into that.”
With three rounds left in the home and away season, Allen is hopeful her side can continue their mid-season form reversal.
Currently on a three-game winning streak, Allen says both herself individually and the team as a whole have learnt significantly from the start of the season.
“We’re every aware that we need to get some wins on the board, we can’t really afford to lose from here on out,” she said.
“The losses we had, we’re fortunate that they came at a time in the season where we can learn from them.
“The expectation personally to back it up from last year, it probably got the better of me at the beginning of pre-season and I got off to a bit of a slow start this season.
“I was still trying to figure out what my role looks like as a leader but also as a player who can have significant impact on the field, so that confidence is starting to come back.
“I probably played my best game of the season so far on the weekend so I’m definitely feeling a lot more confident after putting in a solid game that probably reflects where my best is at.”
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