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After returning to running at Landy Field for her mental health in 2024, she caught the eye of Geelong VFLW recruiters and went on to play for the Cats.<\/p>\n
“I said at the end of 2023, ‘I think I might take a break in 2024’ and it just happened that when I got back into running a fair few of the AFLW and VNL netballers trained down there too,” Witham said.<\/p>\n
“[Geelong’s] coaches and their recruitment would come down to some of that pre-season training, and then they said, ‘Have you ever given footy a crack?’<\/p>\n
“I loved it, I really did, but I was probably a bit old, and it was taxing.<\/p>\n
“It’s long sessions in the VFLW and I said it’s a bit too hard of a commitment when I’m so much older than the younger girls who can balance it easier when they’re at uni or working part-time.”<\/p>\n
The elite environment ultimately reinforced how much she missed the community connection she had at Torquay.<\/p>\n
With family spread across the country, Witham said the club had become a second family.<\/p>\n
“The club has been a part of our life for the last nine years,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I do really appreciate and love the club for that. It is a really friendly, family-orientated place and I think that’s why even when I stepped away and went to a professional club like Geelong, that I still came back to Torquay after a year.<\/p>\n
“I love netball. I think at the end of the day I’m coming to terms with realising that I am getting older, so netball might not be forever, and I need to enjoy it while I’ve got it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE pull of family has one of Torquay’s top netballers on double duty, playing A-grade netball across two states this season. When Bridget Witham learned her sister would be player-coaching an A-grade side in New South Wales this year, she couldn’t resist the chance to play alongside her again. Years had passed since the sisters […]<\/p>\n