WEST Coast's Lucia Painter has been named as the Telstra AFLW Rising Star for round one following her three-goal performance against the Gold Coast on Thursday night.
Taken by the Eagles with pick No.7 in the 2024 Telstra AFLW Draft, Painter kicked snagged the three goals in an eight-minute period in the third quarter to help West Coast secure a win in its first game for 2025.
It's the latest achievement for the 19-year-old who has moved from Bendigo to Western Australia to pursue her football dream. In the past week, Painter has made her debut, kicked her first goal, experienced her first win and now been nominated for the Rising Star award.
"I was just about to hop out and take the dog to the beach, and I got a call from 'Dais' (senior coach Daisy Pearce). She was like, 'Guess what? You got the Rising Star'," Painter said.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh'. I just didn't expect it coming into my first round of AFLW. I was just out there to have fun. But yeah, it's crazy to hear that I went from being at Bendigo to now getting a Rising Star nom."
The Bendigo Pioneers product finished the match with 13 disposals, three clearances and took a huge contested mark and looked right at home on the big stage.
"It was just so much fun to run out there and do the thing that we all love, and, yeah, to come away with the dub," Painter said.
Of her three-goal purple patch, Painter humbly praised the work of her teammates who delivered the ball inside 50.
"It was a credit to all the girls up the field and their hard work, coming from in our back line," she said.
"It just kept coming into the forward line and just kept going between the two big posts. So I definitely did not expect to have that on debut. But, no, it was a lot of fun, all the girls got around me, especially when I kicked my first goal."
The young star's family all made the trip west to witness her first match.
"They were all over here. They came over for the two-day trip and they were so stoked," Painter said.
"There were a fair few tears happening from my nan and my pa … They mean so much to me. So knowing that I've done them proud just gives me a little bit extra, well, a lot of extra motivation to go out there and give it a red hot crack."
Following her debut performance last Thursday, Painter has been blown away by the amount of support she received from West Coast supporters.
"I got a lot of messages and a lot of tags in their stories, so it's just amazing to see the support that we've got over here, and it just shows how much footy brings people together in the community," Painter said.
"It's crazy to see how much the state gets behind football. It's so exciting."
Painter said Pearce was pleased with the side's round one performance, encouraging players to enjoy the win before shifting their focus to their next opponent, Essendon at Windy Hill.
"She (Pearce) was really happy that we played to our strengths and our game style. So we went out there playing to win and we had our focuses pre-game on all the stuff we've been putting in over that 12-week period of pre-season," Painter said.
"She was just really happy with how we performed and obviously there's lots of learnings that come out of every game, regardless of whether you win, lose or draw. So, I guess her message was to enjoy the win but then let's get back to it for round two."
