Sport
26 November, 2024
Isa-born Brisbane Lions star eyes another AFLW premiership
Ellie Hampson could be the next Mount Isa billboard candidate.
The proud parents of Brisbane Lions forward Ellie Hampson hope their daughter can one day feature on the famous Mount Isa billboard that is reserved for locally-born champions.
A second AFLW premiership this Saturday would certainly push Hampson’s cause.
Like Simon Black and Charlie Cameron before her, Hampson was born in Mount Isa but spent very little time in the Outback city, moving to Townsville when she was about four years old.
However, her mum and nana are proud Mount Isans and are quick to tell people where they’re from.
It was in Mount Isa where Matt Glover, now Hampson’s step dad, met her mother, Tracey Shepherd.
“I was a medical scientist working at the hospital,” he said.
“Ellie was born in Mount Isa and lived there for about the first four years of her life and then we moved to Townsville at the end of 2005.”
Soccer players in the city may remember Glover, who pulled the boots on for Parkside United, although he was previously a rugby league player before making the switch to the round ball.
Screams could be heard from their Townsville living room on Saturday night as Hampson kicked a crucial third-quarter goal to put Brisbane within one point of the Adelaide Crows, who enjoyed the upper hand in the opening half.
“I thought she’d fluffed it,” said Glover as he recalled watching the 23-year-old miss the ball at first before collecting it and slotting the goal from a tightish angle.
“We’re all so proud of her. It’s been a hard year for her – she was in and out of the side – but she has worked so hard to get back in and keep her spot.”
Hampson, who was a member of the Lions’ AFLW premiership last season, was dropped from the Brisbane side following round seven and didn’t play again until the first week of the finals.
She was one of the Lions’ best in their one-goal victory against Hawthorn and played her role well in the 16-point preliminary final win against the Crows.
“I was speaking to her last night and the coaches and leadership told her that they were proud of the way she responded while she was out of the side,” Glover said.
“She was professional the whole time and killed it in the reserves and gave them no choice but to put her back in the team.”
While AFLW has become her career, Hampson’s original dream was to play for the Matildas.
And, for a while, it looked like she was on that pathway.
Hampson was a state soccer representative and was captain of the squad as a teenager.
It wasn’t until the Gold Coast Suns formed an academy in Townsville that Australian Rules appeared on the radar.
“I wasn’t fussed on the AFL – I was keen on her sticking with soccer – I remember saying that there was no future in AFL,” a sheepish Glover recalled.
“The pathway wasn’t established then like it is now but it all just opened up and fell into her lap.
“We’d spent tens of thousands of dollars sending her all around the world to play and when the AFL came along it was all free; we didn’t have to pay for anything.”
The Brisbane Lions will start as underdogs in the AFLW grand final against North Melbourne, which is being played at Princes Park in Melbourne at 6.45pm on Saturday.
Hampson will have plenty of support in the grandstands.