Becky Webster is adamant her NAB AFL Women’s Rising Star award is a team effort.
The 20-year-old, who was named as one of two nominees for the award for her career-best performance in Round 4, says the individual accolade is thanks to the crew around her at Geelong.
“I’m definitely honoured (to be nominated), it’s great recognition and I’ve worked really hard – and it’s great to have that under my belt – but it’s a team effort, you can’t do it all by yourself,” Webster said.
“I know it’s an individual award, but it’s cool – you can’t do it without a group around you. I’m pretty lucky in that sense – it’s a good crew.”
Webster produced a career-best performance against the Saints, with career-high returns for disposals (24), marks (8) and metres gained (373).
But the Rising Star nomination came as a pleasant surprise for the midfielder, who described finding out on Monday as “pretty surreal”.
“When ‘Johnno’ (Cats Head of AFLW Brett Johnson) called me, I was kind of just chilling out and I was
thinking, ‘I wonder what Johnno’s calling about?’,” she said.
“And then when he said (what it was), I was over the moon. It was really, really cool.”
Webster, who has played 14 games at Geelong since debuting in the club’s inaugural AFLW match Round 1, 2019, has been a notable presence around the contest for the Cats this season.
She has used her strength to break through packs, shrug off would-be tacklers and win the ball for the Cats.
Webster said she has focussed on her contest method around the ground and trying to influence the contest.
“Trying to use my body around the contest and transition has been another big thing I’ve been trying to work on and implement that, but (assistant coach) Dan (Lowther) has worked really hard over the off-season on that with me,” she said.
After marked improvement in recent weeks, Webster was confident the Cats were closing in on a win.
They take on fellow winless side Richmond under lights at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night in the Djilang Game, which launches the AFLW’s first Indigenous Round.
The Cats’ improvement has been noticeable over the opening month of the season and they were right in the contest against St Kilda, excepting a third-quarter blitz from the Saints.
“We’ve definitely had our ups and downs … hopefully we can just play our brand of football for four quarters and get the four points in the next couple of weeks,” Webster said.
“I think we’re all just driving to have that four-quarter performance and making sure we’re disciplined enough to do that for the team. The scores will come and the wins will come if we do that.
“I know we’ve worked really hard over the off-season, I know we can do it: it’s just about putting in that four-quarter performance to get over the line.”
