Zarlie Goldsworthy relishing her opportunity in Australian Rules football after years playing soccer

Two years in Sydney pursuing a pathway in elite soccer saw Goldsworthy suffer a degree of burnout after having to train up to 14 times a week.

Now back on the Border, the 17-year-old is still kicking the round ball with Albury United but it's her Australian Rules career which is really taking off.

Albury High School student Goldsworthy reached the grand final of the AFL North East Border Female Football League with Lavington Panthers and took out the league's best and fairest at the end of her first full season playing the sport.

The Murray Bushrangers on-baller was classified elite at the NAB Testing Day in Melbourne and is set for a big 2022.

"It's something I've always watched with my family," Goldsworthy said.

"I've always loved dragging my Dad, brother and sister out to kick the football.

"Year 6 was the first time I'd actually played a proper game with the boys team and over the years it's always been in the background but finally this year I put it to the foreground and played a full season.

"You can watch it on TV but you don't really learn much until you start playing with the team.

"Pre-season with the Bushies has been good, we've trained two times a week and the intensity's right up there every session."

At one stage this year, Goldsworthy was juggling four different sports, having agreed to play netball for North Albury as well as travelling to Melbourne for cricket with Carlton-Brunswick.

"There was a big overlap at times," she explained.

ALSO IN SPORT

"I had to leave soccer about half an hour early, depending on the score, and then I'd then arrive for football about a quarter late. Hopefully it doesn't clash too much this season and we get more Saturday night games.

"Sport is just a really fun thing to do, the social side of it and I love everyone that I play with.

"My family knows that if I'm not in a comfortable position, I don't to things. I find comfort in sport.

"The two years I spent in Sydney playing soccer for the NSW Institute was a great experience but it wasn't taking me down the path I wanted to go down so I decided to come back here and follow football.

"I didn't justify training 14 times a week. You didn't have much time to do anything else and coming from the country, where you play four different sports, I wasn't able to do that.

"Coming back here, I'm able to explore different sports but still have the opportunity in the future to go back to soccer.

"It's been so much fun to come back and slip straight back into it with United, where I have lots of friends."

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