Although the past two rounds haven’t gone to plan for the Casey Demons VFLW side, defender-turned midfielder Meg Macdonald has continued to shine.

With a purple patch of form, Macdonald has averaged 15 disposals and nine tackles in the past four rounds (prior to the cancelled match, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne), impressing for the Demons around the ground.

Melbourne Media sat down with Macdonald, to talk about her current form, football background and the upcoming finals.

“I’m just really enjoying my footy at the moment – having the love for the game and playing in a really great side with great coaches,” she said.

“I try to get a good life balance, train well and have a positive mindset about it, which is probably what I attribute to my current form.

“Although, I feel I’m a bit boring outside of footy! I enjoy the simple things like spending time with family and friends when I can.”

As the case with many aspiring female footballers, it was the love of the game through years of watching with the family that got Macdonald to pick up a Sherrin.

“I’ve got an older brother and went to the footy with him and my dad, so I’ve always loved following the footy,” she said.

“I was always interested in playing footy with the girls when I was younger so when the opportunity came up, I jumped on it.

“I didn’t start playing until high school, so I played for the school team at Woodleigh School and then started playing for Mt Eliza FNC when I was about 18.”

Macdonald’s pathway to the VFL was through school football, where her first opportunity came from Seaford.

“I played in the Herald Sun Shield with school football,” she said. 

“I played an alright game or two and ended up having a chat with Lauren Arnell, who was affiliated with Seaford at the time, and got in contact with the coach.

“From there I went down for a few sessions and got the opportunity to play for Seaford in their VFL side, and then moved to St Kilda when the league changed licenses.

From the team being in red hot form to having lost the last two on the trot, Macdonald is certain the group can turn it all around just before finals.

“It was bit disappointing the last two rounds. For some reason, the hype with everyone dropped and I think that during halftime in the Carlton game the team was very down, even though we were up,” she said.

“We might not have thought we were playing the best game, however, we were still up on the scoreboard and a lot of us dropped our heads. Maybe for us that might have been the pivotal moment that has stuck with us for the last two weeks.

“There are some great players in our team and we can play some amazing footy together, knowing that we can beat anyone in the league.

“We set ourselves a goal at the start of the year and have already smashed that and we need to be extremely proud of where we are at and keep pushing ourselves before finals.”

Whilst it is likely that the Demons will make their maiden finals appearance, Macdonald discussed the current feeling of the group and the possibilities.

“Obviously, anything can happen, especially in women’s footy,” she said.

“We actually talked about it at training last week and we’re all so excited about it.

“Game fundamentals are a big part of our improvement so when our fundamentals are done right, we play really well.

“We are really positive and believe we can beat anyone. It’s just exciting times, fingers crossed everything works out for us.”