ONE YEAR ON chats to the breakout draftees from the 2025 NAB AFLW season, ahead of their second year in the league.

After a check-in with Telstra AFLW Rising Star winner Zippy Fish, it's on to Carlton father-daughter favourite Sophie McKay.

She captured the attention of the football public with her outrageous goal celebrations last year, but Sophie McKay has officially put a self-ban on the fake injuries.

There was an apparent dislocated shoulder into a shimmy, and the pinged hammy into a leg wobble, but they'll only live on in 2025 highlight reels.

"I can confirm no more injuries, there'll be no more injury celebrations. I'm too scared they're going to come to life," McKay told AFL.com.au.

"I haven't (come up with something), you're going to have to give me one. I'm open to all suggestions, so give me some celebration ideas. All appropriate, please."

The younger McKay – sister Abbie captains the club – was diagnosed with ADHD in the aftermath of the two-year COVID-19 lockdown periods in Melbourne, and said that her medication has "absolutely changed my life".

"I went back to football, I started doing well in school, showing up at school, showing up at training, completely changed my life. Definitely something that has been amazing for me. It just makes every day so much easier, and I just find life so much easier," McKay said.

"It doesn't dampen me too much, I know some people can have bad experiences with that, but I think my personality still shines through. When you want to be professional, and do things, and things are hard, it's really nice to have my brain wired in a [neurotypical] manner, not an ADHD manner."

There are significant changes involved in the transition from full-time student to AFL/W footballer, and McKay's neurodivergence added another layer of complexity.

"Not a whole lot went smoothly. Just tiredness, obviously, that's the main thing. A sense of professionalism that you're just not used to. With ADHD, I can have paralysis and sit in my bed for six hours, and not realise it, and that's just not an option (now). Napping, just the exhaustion of going up and down," she said.

"I think ADHD's very [misunderstood as] constantly hyperactive, and I am very energetic, but especially in females, it's a lot more about emotions and being able to control your emotions, and that's how it's changed my life – being able to do hard things and control my emotions with that. 

"Something that really helped me was an Outlook calendar, the PDM last year, Sam Grimwade (now at Hawthorn) helped me with that. Reminding myself to eat – alarms, but the club are great with that, they have so many resources for that. 

"All of a sudden, you can't just go out with your friends, or do this or do that, because your energy is so important. We talk about, at Carlton, your energy pool. My energy pool, I feel like is my main thing. It's really important. That sacrificial piece was hard in the beginning, but you learn to love it. I've fallen in love with it and I love my lifestyle."

In terms of season 2026, McKay is hoping to take the off-field lessons learned last year into the coming months, particularly around internal versus external expectations.

"I think there was a period last year where it all came down to how I was playing, so I could fulfil what other people were saying," she said.

"I worked very closely with the psychologist to make sure that I was playing for me and having fun for me, rather than playing so I could tick that off and read an article and see that I did what I needed to do. That really helped me a lot, playing for me, having fun for me.

"I can always get better. I hope I just keep having fun and hope I can back it up a bit. There's obviously anxieties around it, of course, and I'm sure there's anxieties around our team as well. 

"We were a bit of an underdog last year, and now we've erased that title, that label, and are expected to do really well. I think I get anxious that I won't live up to last year, but what it all comes down to is if I enjoy my footy, I'm going to play my best footy, and that's all I can do."