AFLW players Brianna Davey and Tilly Lucas-Rodd on love and the game

Brianna Davey and Tilly Lucas-Rodd are partners in life and opponents on the football field. And it’s the game they love that brought the Collingwood co-captain and St Kilda defender together.

A former professional soccer player, Davey, 26, represented the Matildas in 17 international matches before crossing codes to be part of the AFLW competition, which kicked off in 2017.

She plied her trade at the local level with St Kilda Sharks, where she met Lucas-Rodd, 24, who’d played Aussie Rules since she was four.

They’ve been in a relationship now for five and a half years and live together in Coburg with dog Bonnie – who is impartial amid a tug-of-war for her football loyalties. She hasn’t been signed up to a Magpies pet membership or wrapped in a Saints scarf, instead the chocolate Labrador barracks for the Western Bulldogs. “Being a dog, she goes for the Dogs,’’ Lucas-Rodd laughs.

The couple were teammates at Carlton for three seasons until 2020, when Davey became the first Blues captain to cross to arch-nemesis Collingwood and Lucas-Rodd moved to the Saints for their inaugural campaign.

For the first time in AFLW, they took to the field against each other on March 20 when the Magpies and Saints faced off in round eight at Victoria Park.

When Domain Review caught up with the couple ahead of the fixture, Lucas-Rodd joked about engaging in some cheeky-on-field ribbing.

“There could be some sledging. You never do the dishes! Clean up the dog poo!

“We’ve played against each other once, and that was in VFLW. We were only near each other at two contests, but I know Bri’s teammates, tongue in cheek, called her soft because she didn’t go hard enough at me. It was probably because I was too quick and got away.”

Davey was captain during their time at the Blues, so many football conversations were off-limits as Lucas-Rodd was both her teammate and partner.

Now, playing for rival clubs, tactics and inner sanctum talk at home is still out of bounds.

“It’s just being professional and having that boundary, and I thought we did it pretty well when we were in the same team at Carlton because there were different challenges,’’ Davey explains.

“Being in separate teams now has thrown a different spanner in the works. We still definitely talk about footy, but more about the other teams and the competition as a whole. We don’t discuss our teams and goings-on specifically.”

Lucas-Rodd adds: “The main thing is just keeping our team’s tactics and things away from each other. You normally want to debrief with your partner, your closest person, about things that go on, and footy is the main thing we have going on.”

Contrasting training schedules means the pair don’t see a lot of each other during the week in the thick of the season. Both are in their final year of teaching degrees at Victoria University, and Lucas-Rodd works part-time as a teacher’s aide at the Sydney Road Community School in Brunswick, while Davey is about to start work with Collingwood Football Club in a community role.

“We definitely see each other less during footy,” Davey says. “Tilly is working and studying, and she’d train Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night, and at Collingwood, we’d train Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then on the weekend we have our games.’’

Lucas-Rodd says, “Speaking to other girls, who also have partners who play AFLW, they really make an effort to go and watch each other’s games, but we’re probably more brutal.

“In round one, I didn’t go to Bri’s game because I was playing the next night and I was like, ‘No, I need to prepare,’ and recently Bri didn’t come to my game because she wanted to prepare for hers.

“We’ll definitely watch each other play on TV or re-watch the game together.”

When Lucas-Rodd is playing, she’s always in Davey’s thoughts.

“I personally hate missing Tilly’s games because I’m always thinking about what she’s doing and how she’s going. I was training one night, and Tilly was playing. I got my phone out straight away and got into the pool for recovery and was holding my phone up out of the water watching her play.”

Lucas-Rodd jumps in: “I had your game on in the medical room before a game once, and the girls were gathered around watching and commenting on what you were doing.”

Davey has etched her way into footy folklore, making history as the only person to captain both Carlton and Collingwood.

“It’s kind of not surprising (I’m the first) given Carlton and Collingwood are arch-rivals, but it’s cool at the same time. It’s a huge jump, rival club to rival club,” she says.

“I absolutely loved my time at Carlton; I have some great memories there, I played in a grand final in 2019, captained Carlton in that grand final, but I’m at Collingwood now. I’m loving it, and I feel very Collingwood now I’m here.

“I was terrified about making the move, but anytime I’ve made a change in my career and pushed myself out of my comfort zone, it’s made me better. It was the same when I played professional soccer; it made me a better athlete and person.”

Lucas-Rodd was a huge support for Davey when she received the approach from Collingwood and during her decision-making process.

“It’s not something you want to influence; I wanted to remain quite balanced. We discussed the good things and the negative things knowing family and other friends who knew who might try to pull Bri one way,’’ she explains.

“It had to be Bri’s decision because she’s the one who had to play there and live with her decision.”

The 2021 AFLW Season runs until March 28, with the grand final on the weekend of April 17.