Fan-favourite Ebony O'Dea says she wouldn't have her journey to 50 games any other way. Image: Jack Dilks.

IT’s taken nearly seven seasons and three clubs, and included a delisting along the way, but Ebony O’Dea says she wouldn’t have her journey to 50 AFLW games any other way.

Originally claimed by Greater Western Sydney for the 2019 season but delisted after one year without playing a game, O’Dea went on to make 21 AFLW appearances across three seasons with Collingwood before returning home to South Australia to be part of Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFLW squad in 2022.

The experienced hard-tackling defender will play her 50th match on Friday night against St Kilda at Alberton Oval.

During a press conference, O’Dea spoke about how her delisting motivated her to persevere, her move to Port Adelaide and how the team’s maturity and closeness has contributed to a string of wins in 2024.

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Ebony O'Dea press conference - 16 October | PTV

Ebony O'Dea speaks to the media ahead of her 50th AFLW game against St Kilda on Friday night.

Ebony O’Dea on reaching her 50th AFLW game this week against St Kilda:

“It’s pretty exciting. I just love playing footy, so just racking them up is pretty cool. We're seeing some of the senior players get to the 75-80s now so hopefully I can get there one day but it’s exciting to get there.”

Ebony O’Dea on her journey to 50 games through Greater Western Sydney and Collingwood:

“Every club I've been to it's gotten better every season. I've just continued to love my footy and get some consistency so the last few years has been fantastic. And yeah, I mean, the persevering to get from being delisted a few times to get up to 50 games is something I'm pretty proud of. I want to get to the end of my career, and even if I sort of got delisted and didn't get back in, I wanted to know that I did everything I possibly could to get there. So, I think it was kind of easy for me to get delisted. It gives you that motivation to really give it everything, so (it’s a) blessing in disguise.”

O'Dea spent the first years of her career at Greater Western Sydney and Collingwood. Image: AFL Photos.

Ebony O’Dea on being part of Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFLW squad:

“(It’s been) super rewarding. I think (it felt) pretty rough in those first few seasons, not be able to get too many wins on the board, but it makes it mean a lot more now that we're getting there and getting some consistency and getting some wins on the board and having a bit of momentum coming into this round.”

Ebony O’Dea on the increased maturity of the group in 2024:

“It's definitely been a big, big improvement, and I think we've seen that in our ability to come back from behind, and we've had some slow starts in games, but a lot of maturity for the girls to be able to switch on and sort of peg back some points and get us back in the game when, probably in previous seasons, when we've been down, we struggled to get back up. It's been impressive, especially given how young some of our girls are.

“It's something that as a group, we've been proud of, and it's sort of having a few girls that have now been in the system for a few years. A lot of them, obviously, in season one, were brand new to W footy, so getting that experience under their belt helps. And the resilience, which is probably helped by having a slow start in the first few seasons of learning from those games, from those tough losses, how to bounce back - I think we're seeing that pay off now.”

O'Dea says she's seen significant improvement in the group in 2024. Image: Matt Sampson.

Ebony O’Dea on whether this week’s clash with St Kilda feels big because of how close the sides are on the ladder:

“Every game is a big game when you’ve only got 11 Home and Away games in a season. Soit sort of feels like probably every week is like ‘we’ve got to win this, we’ve got to show up, we’ve got to turn up, we’ve got to play our footy’. It feels like that again this weekend. And certainly, ladder position wise, this is a big game for us, but hopefully we're getting used to the pressure by now, and we just know we’ve got to show up every week, and that's another one of these this weekend.”

Ebony O’Dea on whether there’s been a change in the energy in the group with finals a real possibility:

“I wouldn't say it changes, because energy has felt like it's been there since day one this season. We really felt like we were a strong team. We had a good start in pre-season matches, we've shown up. So, I wouldn't say it's changed, but the excitement has just been consistent, and the belief has really been there since day one this pre-season.”