Wagga league a challenge in itself for new Turvey Park co-captain

The Giants Academy talent fell in love with Australian rules as a teenager in Cowra and has been honing her skills since.

Moving to Wagga for work, Mikelli Garratt said it was an easy decision to stay at Turvey Park after attending a training session last year.

With experience in both the Giants Academy and within the AFL Canberra competition, Garratt brings welcomed leadership to the group.

Earning herself a best on field nomination in the Bulldog's round one win, she has already proved her worth.

"It is hard coming into a new team finding where you fit, where you slot in and figuring out what they do, it is hard always going into a new club but Turvey has been so welcoming, taking me with open arms and making me feel at home," Garratt said.

"It is definitely different, I remember back playing Giants our warm-up, we'd like a 2k time trial, that's how we're starting training, and we definitely don't do that here, which is good.

"This league just hasn't been around as long, so it just hasn't had that opportunity to grow and develop as much."

Adjusting not only to a new club, Garratt said the heat has also taken getting used to after playing in winter her whole life.

With plenty of substitutes and ample water to carry the team through, she believes the heat is just another quirk of the league to overcome.

After playing at high levels, stepping back into the Wagga competition comes with its own challenges for Garratt, who admitted it isn't at the quality she has played in before.

For her, it's not about comparing leagues but relishing in the opportunity to help her teammates grow into better players.

Believing that playing alongside and with players who are better than her helped step her own game up a level, she would like to have a similar impact on her teammates.

"Compared to that Canberra league, it is that step down, there isn't that depth, but in saying that the Wagga league is absolutely incredible," Garratt said.

"You have some great quality players here, especially coming up from the juniors, and you can really see the love for it here.

"Anywhere you go, you see someone playing better than you and without even thinking about it, you want be as good as them or better than them and you play and you get that good player come up to you and say 'you know what, you had a cracking game', that means so much, especially to those junior players coming up."

One thing Garratt is revelling in however is living in a football-mad town.

With Australian rules fans few and far between in her home town of Cowra, she said it's a nice change of pace to have so many people around her ready to talk footy.

Garratt plans on returning to Canberra club Ainslie Tricolours for the 2024 winter season.

Turvey Park play Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes at Mangoplah Sports Ground in their round two game on Friday.