Raised in Melbourne, Perko played netball and soccer before playing Australian rules football. At thirteen, Perkins was told she would no longer be able to play contact sports due to a spinal disc herniation, so she concentrated on netball for the next three years. However, she decided to start playing Australian rules football at sixteen, joining the Eastern Devils' youth side in 2009 and becoming a two-time Victorian under-18 representative before playing in the Devils' senior side in the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) in 2012.

In 2016, she kicked fifty-two goals and finished third in the leading goalkicker award, behind Moana Hope and Katie Brennan, and was named in the VWFL team of the year. In the eighteen months before being recruited, she lost forty kilograms to fulfill her dream of playing AFL football.

In this podcast, we discussed:

00:00 Intro 00:23 About Sarah Perkins 01:25 How Sarah's brother and neighbour inspired her to start playing footy 04:28 Sarah's footy positions 05:32 People who supported and influenced Sarah's footy career 11:40 How Sarah got drafted and how her footy career started 17:41 Her greatest surprise and challenges she faced as she joined the footy club 22:19 How she stays motivated and get better 23:31 How her VFL schedule and workload looks like 27:40 Sarah explains offleague conditioning and when is it used 28:40 Her recovery routine after a game 30:54 Her plans for 2021 VFL and AFLW

People mentioned:

  • Meg Hutchins
  • Bec Goddard
  • Elizabeth Keaney
  • Georgia Bevan
  • Leah Kaslar
  • Erin Phillips
  • Jamie Stanton
  • Jade Pregelj
  • Kalinda Howarth

Connect with Sarah Perkins

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perko29/

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐀 𝐏𝐫𝐨

We're committed to empowering Australian rules footballers and developing strength and conditioning coaches to best practice physical preparation methods.

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