{"id":236121,"date":"2025-10-23T22:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236121\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T22:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T22:48:10","slug":"omission-helped-lily-smarten-up-and-blitz-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/236121\/","title":{"rendered":"Omission helped Lily Smarten up and blitz year"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEING dropped from the SANFL Women\u2019s side back to the Development League was a blessing rather than a curse for Sturt\u2019s Lily Smart<\/a> who credits that as the catalyst behind her strong finish to 2025. Recalling the moment after a Round 3 win over Glenelg, Smart said her three weeks in the second tier helped her \u201cflick the switch\u201d which lead to her earning a State Draft Combine invite.<\/p>\n

The athletic top-ager won the Double Blues\u2019 Development League Best and Fairest in 2024, but after being added to the Croweaters\u2019 Under 18s Academy, Smart found herself in the Sturt seniors for Round 1. The pace of the game was frenetic and over the next three weeks, Smart averaged just the 6.3 disposals.<\/p>\n

Then she was told she would be dropped back to the Development League to work on her game. She did just that, earning a recall for the Round 7 match against West Adelaide. Almost like a completely different player, Smart won 19 disposals \u2013 the total touches she had in the first three rounds \u2013 as well as four marks, six tackles and eight inside 50s to win that week\u2019s Breakthrough Player nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I played the first three games and then I had to go back to development league for a little bit,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI actually think that was good for me because I needed to be able to find something to come back for, improve myself a little bit. Then I was able to come back in that Round 7 and I just had more of the mindset that I\u2019ve got nothing to lose, I might as well just go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got Breakthrough Player that game, and ever since that game I was like \u2018you can\u2019t just go out there, if I want to actually get the ball I\u2019ve got to go get it kind of mindset. Ever since getting dropped and coming back it was a bit of a flick of the switch in the mind to turn up a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Lily Smart (right) awarded her debut cap for Sturt ahead of Round 1. Image via Sturt FC<\/p>\n

Smart would play out the remainder of the season with Sturt, only dropping below the double-digit disposals once more and becoming a fully fledged winger. However that all changed when she went to the national championships as the athletic talent was moved to half-back, as her Double Blues teammate Monique Bessen<\/a> \u2013 normally an inside midfielder\/forward \u2013 was selected to play on the wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was interesting,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI think Mon was a bit surprised playing that but I guess she just had to do the same thing I did and just play on a wing because she doesn\u2019t really have any other options. It was definitely different for the both of us, but I think it was actually good because you just can\u2019t play one position, you\u2019ve got to be happy to go anywhere so we figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart is one of the humblest players going around, admitting that she \u201chadn\u2019t been too good at footy\u201d in the past, so she was glad that in her top-age season she was able to improve so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was finally my top-age 18s to finally come into the team and it was so much fun, I was able to play all the games,\u201d Smart said. \u201cEven thought I wasn\u2019t able to play my preferred position, I got to play other positions and now I enjoy playing half-back. That\u2019s definitely something that I really want to keep doing now, so it was really, really good and the girls are just amazing. Really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hard-running Double Blues wing credits Talent Manager of Female Programs Robbie Neill with her evolved kicking action where the former Sydney and St Kilda player worked hard to build up Smart\u2019s deficiencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still not one of my strengths, but definitely this year playing my first year of League and then getting coaching help at state from Robbie,\u201d Smart said. \u201cHe focused with me a lot on my kicking and my technique so I think especially my kicking on the run has definitely been something that has improved a lot because it didn\u2019t used to be so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the end of the year and Smart received a State Draft Combine, something that suits her to a t given she represented Australia at the Oceania Athletics Championships last year, winning silver in the Under 18s Long Jump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited to get the combine invite,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI love this stuff and I was really happy to be able to because this is more what I\u2019m better at so I\u2019m really happy to be able to show people more of my strengths doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off the field, Smart is in university with her first year studies wrapping up this month before getting stuck back into preseason with Sturt. The draft hopeful is keeping her fitness up and completing skills sessions with other Double Blues, as well as her father in order to hit the ground running whatever next year holds.<\/p>\n

Heading into the December 15 draft, Smart said the possibility of being selected is \u201cdefinitely more realistic now than had been a few months ago\u201d and she was more than happy to relocate anywhere in the country to chase her dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelocating that\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t really concern me,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI\u2019d be really happy to go anywhere and see what happens. I don\u2019t have any expectations of getting drafted but if it happens there\u2019s no way I\u2019d pass up on the opportunity, I\u2019d be straight into it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEING dropped from the SANFL Women\u2019s side back to the Development League was a blessing rather than a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,141523,47071,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-236121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-lily-smart","14":"tag-monique-bessen","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}