IT'S A DAUNTING prediction from Melbourne's dynamic midfielder Karen Paxman – that her best is still to come.
Paxman, the most in-form player in the NAB AFL Women's competition, and her coach Mick Stinear reckon that, at 29, there's more improvement in the dynamic midfielder.
"Since being at Melbourne, I've felt that my game and my skills have improved and I'm a lot stronger. It's pretty exciting to realise the best is definitely still ahead," she said.
Paxman received the perfect 10 votes from Adelaide premiership coach Bec Goddard and Stinear for her 21-possession contribution in the Demons' 32-point win last Saturday.
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"She has taken her running capacity to another level with the speed and endurance combination. She has become cleaner around the footy and worked on her stoppage craft. And her aerial work as well," Stinear said.
"It's exciting to see where she can take it after only 12 months at AFL level."
Goddard showed videotape of Paxman to the Crows at half-time to emphasise how and where the powerhouse Paxman was hurting them at the contests.
What Goddard described as "the most superior midfield in AFLW" will be tested with a heavy workload over the next two rounds, starting with a trip west to play Fremantle on Sunday before a short week to prepare to play Collingwood in Alice Springs on Saturday, February 24.
Captain Daisy Pearce, Elise O'Dea, Melissa Hickey and Paxman are members of Darebin Falcons premiership teams in the VFLW. And the midfield "club" has additional members, with Richelle Cranston, Lily Mithen and Ashleigh Guest taking turns in the rotations this season.
"We (the four Falcons) have played together for a few years and the familiarity we have with each other is definitely an advantage. But it's not just the four of us. That's the beauty of our team with the options," Paxman said.
Paxman is spending more time in the swimming pool at the club's AAMI Park headquarters as a precaution for a back spasm that interrupted her blistering start to the season, highlighted by four possessions in the first minute in the opening round of the season against Greater Western Sydney.
"It was a freak back spasm. A joint in my back got a bit aggravated for some reason and caused my back to spasm. It was as simple as picking up the ball and I stepped to the side and that set it off," she said.
A scan the next day cleared her of any damage, but the Demons took no chances by benching the hard-working midfielder early in the last quarter last weekend when the game was safe.
"It [the injury] has been an excuse to lap up some pool and spa time to relax my back, and I probably need a little more strength through there," she said.
Paxman, who didn't start playing football until she was 16, temporarily quit the game in 2015 and travelled overseas, including two months in South America, before returning just in time to see Darebin win another VFLW premiership.
"I took a year off footy. The motivation was a bit low and I had a bit of a refresher year just to get a bit of spare time back," she said.
"I went and watched the Grand Final and realised I was missing it. The year I came back, [plans for the AFLW] were taking off. It was a little difficult coming back with the mental side of things. You wonder whether the game has passed you and I needed a few matches to get my confidence back."
