The rise of Zarlie Goldsworthy, Sophie Hanrahan, Ebony Hoskin, Poppy O'Keeffe, Bella Pasquali and Keeley Skepper

STEVE TERVET spoke to some of the people who know them best to find out more.

Having switched codes, former soccer star Goldsworthy took the NAB League by storm and earned herself a move to GWS Giants on AFLW Draft night.

"Sport took up our entire schedule as children," older sister Molly Goldsworthy said. "When I got into soccer, I would always see Zarlie on the side, kicking and running around at 100mph.

"Whether it was kicking the ball in the back yard or throwing the cricket ball to her, it was always intense.

"When Zarlie played with the boys, she really gave it to them. She had her head shaved like a boy, she ate with the boys at school and Mum was always getting phone calls saying Zarlie had hurt someone - it just happened to be a boy. She found the boys were all sport-orientated and she loved that. She could talk football, she could talk soccer and they would know exactly what she was talking about.

"She was playing in the schools comp and someone said 'that boy over there, he's going to make the AFL,' so our cousin, who was coaching turned around and said 'he's a she!' She was always destined for great things.

"They won the grand final of the Paul Kelly Cup but there was no girls football program so Zarlie got an opportunity to go to Sydney with her soccer and play for the Institute. She was a train-on for the Young Matildas squad but she was training 13 times a week, which was crazy at the age of 13.

"I was playing football in Sydney at the time. My parents begged me not to take Zarlie to training but I did and she was 'Molly's sister' on the first night. She kicked a goal from 50 metres and they all said 'who the heck is that?' From that point, I was known as 'Zarlie's sister.'

"She is the most dedicated and committed person I have ever met. She'll have a good game but she's always thinking of ways she can be bigger, better, stronger and faster."

A household name in O and M circles, the two-time Toni Wilson medallist took the plunge in Melbourne this year and was crowned Division 1 MVP in the Victorian Netball League.

"Sophie was 14, playing multiple grades at Coreen when I first encountered her," Corowa-Rutherglen coach Georgie Bruce said. "I was pregnant at the time, umpiring, and there was this tall, lanky thing dominating from one end to the other.

"She thought I was a weirdo for being so heavily pregnant and umpiring barefoot and I thought she was a freak with her skill level.

"We both ended up at Corowa and it's been eight years in the making.

"For our region, Soph is one of a kind. She stood out very young, she had that X Factor and you could see her potential. From then, it was what sort of coaching she had, the opportunities that were presented and her own personality type as to whether or not she wanted to seize the day and take the moment for what it was.

"She went through the NSW pathway program but that fell flat on its face and she didn't pursue the Victorian pathway until recently.

"I'm super proud of her doing that. My personality trait is that you achieve at the highest level you can and I don't own her, CDHBU never owned her, we want to push our players as far as they can and give them the courage to do so.

"When she finally did take the opportunity, it's a proud moment for her family, myself as her coach and even our community, who have watched her grow as a beautiful player over the last seven or eight years.

"She's done an exceptional job. It takes courage to be able to do it and you are putting your head on the chopping block. The knockers will knock; if she didn't have a great year, she's in a small town and you can't escape that, people asking 'why didn't you get on?' and if you don't have the right perspective, that can be tough."

The cricketer from Howlong not only made her debut for NSW but took a wicket with her very first delivery in state cricket.

"We'd booked a holiday in Mildura that week," dad Aaron Hoskin said. "That phone call was crazy. Ebony's been doing a lot of work up there but for the coach to actually give her the nod and say 'you deserve a spot' was pretty special and very emotional for myself, my wife and even Ebony's siblings.

"She's put in so much hard work over the last three years. She gets up at 6am, goes to the gym, comes home, goes about her business and then I'd get home from work and it was 'do you want to go down the nets?' She's self-driven and it was really emotional because she deserved that spot.

"The day she got presented with her cap was a very special moment that I'll forever hold dearly.

"It all started down at Howlong Cricket Club in the juniors. They were a bit short on numbers one day and Ebony said 'I'll go out and have a run.' She bowled quite well and it stuck with her.

"I still remember her debut in the seniors, out at Bethanga. When she got her first wicket, I was pretty emotional but the next minute, she'd got four! I was like 'can you just stop showing off here please!'

"It was one thing getting a go in the senior level but she actually held her spot.

"Our captain at the time, Ryan Withers, played a big role. He didn't hold back, he was willing to throw her the ball in tricky situations and get the most out of her, which has helped her really progress to where she is right now.

"Because we were quite young when we had Ebony, she's always been around sport. I played football and cricket, my wife plays netball and she's very driven as well. Being around that small community in Howlong, we're always very sporty, so being brought up in that atmosphere has really helped Ebony progress.

"We've done plenty of kilometres. There were times you'd sit back and think 'will she break or will she keep going?' but when she has a goal, she's going to grab it."

Selection for the Junior Matildas is the reward for years of dedication and quality performances at Murray United and now in Melbourne.

"It was always the dream that Poppy might get to something like this one day but to have it really happening is incredible," mum Geni O'Keeffe said. "She's put in the work and we've always tried to get her to every opportunity whether it be a tournament in Bendigo or Melbourne or training at home, kicking the ball against the wall.

"Poppy's very competitive and that's not necessarily about beating other people. There were times, in summer, when she gave herself blisters on her toes because she was juggling the ball in bare feet. She wouldn't stop because she wanted to beat her record.

"There were even times she ended up in tears because she got so frustrated, getting within 10 of her record.

"It's a massive commitment going down this route, mostly a time commitment, and that's time you're not getting to do things with your other kids.

"We were really lucky up here that we had the NPL pathway and even more lucky that Murray was so receptive to girls playing because other clubs wouldn't be. We're very lucky to have people like (former chairman) Darren Yates and it helped because he has two talented daughters so he was always looking for opportunities for the girls to play.

"Financially, you hate to think of what you've spent on fuel but you do feel vindicated at times like this because you know a lot of people do question it, which I probably did myself in years past with people doing all this.

"You think 'I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't have the time' but now I realise you can't say that until you have a child who's doing really well in something and how hard it is to say 'we're not doing that.' Instead, you're more likely to say 'we'll do whatever we can to get you there.'

Already a national champion over 400m, the Wangaratta schoolgirl has shown she's got what it takes to be a world class track athlete.

"It's exciting to watch your kid develop in a sport, train really hard for it and reap the rewards," mum Anna Pasquali said. "It's been really rewarding to watch Bella put in the hard work.

"She trains twice a week in Wangaratta but it's more when the season starts up and there are weekly competitions in Melbourne that it revs up. It's going to carnivals across Victoria and all the driving involved, the time, effort and money.

"Bella's a 16-year-old girl with a lot of stuff going on in her life and she's got to commit to pretty much an entire summer's worth of weekends, being away, so it's a big commitment on all of our behalves but it's certainly worth it.

"In those big moments, there probably aren't words to describe it because 'proud' doesn't quite seem enough: we're bursting with joy and happiness.

"We didn't go to the nationals expecting her to win and we didn't want to put that pressure on her. So when she pulled it off, it was such an amazing feeling.

"To get to the Commonwealth or Olympic Games, you've really got to want it but Bella's got a great coach and a good work ethic so it's really up to her."

"She can be as good as anybody I've seen," coach Jason Boulton concurred. "But that comes down to Bella's motivation. If she wants to be world class, she can be world class. She hasn't even scratched the surface yet and she's already an Australian champion."

Footy-mad Keeley was drafted by Carlton and then picked up a Rising Star nomination just four rounds into her AFLW career.

"From when she could walk and talk, Keeley always had a football in her hands," mum Nicole Deans said. "So it was pretty early and she became obsessed. Football has been everything to her. Her dream was to play in the AFL and she didn't understand when I would say to her 'you can't play AFL for a living' because, back then, there wasn't a women's league. But that's changed and she's living her dream now.

"Murray Bushrangers seemed to know who she was before anyone else so they contacted me. I had to fill in a survey but they came back and said 'you don't need to do it because we know all about her already.'

"Being her Mum, I wondered if I thought she was better than she actually was, so it was good to hear other people feeling the same way about her football as I did.

"There's been a lot of travel but those car journeys made us really close. She always chose the music, by the way!

"We knew from birth that Keeley was going to be something special. If she wants something, she goes for it.

"Draft night was one of the best nights I've ever had and she would feel the same way. It was amazing to see all her work come to fruition. It was a relief, too, because the lead-up to it was quite stressful and we didn't know how it was going to play out.

"She's stepped up even more than I thought she would. I thought she might ease into her first year but it's just been so exciting to see how she's gone."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: