IF YOU can’t outclass your opponent with the ball, you can still outwit them with your talk.
That’s the power of sledging, according to Sarah Hosking, with the Richmond star reflecting on her favourite on-field jibes in this week’s episode of Tagged alongside Collingwood gun Ruby Schleicher.
Tagged, the first player-led podcast and vodcast produced by AFL Digital, combines the latest takes on footy with plenty of pop culture and entertainment chat.
>> WATCH THE LATEST EPISODE OF TAGGED BELOW
In their second episode which launched on Tuesday, Ruby reveals AFLW sledging "happens on the field, off the field, in the DMs, the lot", before asking Sarah about the best verbal heckler she’s encountered.
"I’m not a sledger, but I can tell you the best sledger I know is Shae Audley. She’s retired now, but I played with her at Carlton," Sarah said.
"She was never the most talented or skilful player, but she just kept going and was a pest."
Sarah recounted her favourite Audley sledge, demonstrating the quick wit of the former Blue who played 16 games over three seasons.
"She takes a mark, pulls back from the mark and kicks the ball into someone’s head. This girl throws it back to Shae Audley and goes, ‘Nice kick, you d---head!’
"‘Auds’, within a second, bounces back: ‘At least your face was already [messed] up before I hit it!’ and off she goes.
"She just had something for every scenario."
Ruby, also conceding she wasn’t a natural sledger herself, said the best takedown she copped came from her father, who once joked that the No.11 on her East Fremantle jumper looked like "brackets" – a sledge usually heard in the theatre of "ressies" football.
"He thought it was hilarious to call me brackets, and still does sometimes," Ruby said.
In fresh episodes of Tagged every Tuesday, Tuesday, Schleicher and Hosking tackle everything from pop culture to locker-room gossip.
In tis week's episode, they also discuss:
- SAS, Jason Akermanis, and real or faked injuries
- An awkward road-trip incident involving a shopping trolley and emergency services
- A dating dilemma for the ages
You can watch Tagged every Tuesday on womens.afl and the AFLW and AFL Live Official apps, and listen to the podcast on all good podcast platforms on the same day.
