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AAP
AAP
Anna Harrington

Essendon defender Morcom relishes AFLW-AFL juggle

Alex Morcom says she's thrilled to be juggling her roles with Essendon's women's and men's sides. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

Whether Essendon win or lose their AFLW elimination final, Alex Morcom will turn up to the football club on Monday, ready to get to work.

After all, it's the first day of pre-season.

That might sound strange, given the popular defender is at the pointy end of Essendon's campaign - pending the result of Saturday's knockout clash with Fremantle.

But Morcom, 28, juggles her playing career with her professional one: as Essendon's AFL operations coordinator.

"The men's players return on Monday, so this week, we've been prepping for them to come back," Morcom said.

"Just throughout this it's obviously probably a good thing for me that the seasons don't exactly cross over."

So what does day-to-day look like for Morcom?

Her responsibilities include taking charge of the AFL players' schedules, booking their flights and organising their match tickets.

It's footy, footy, footy - but she wouldn't have it any other way.

"There's a lot of perks as well, working and playing for the same club," she said.

"I get to see the behind the scenes of their program and the way that they go about their football.

"There's some great takeaways from that as well, just seeing the professionalism that they attack their football with - I definitely am able to take that into my own game.

"But there's also probably things that we could teach them as well."

Alex Morcom.
Morcom is the only surviving member of Essendon's original VFLW team. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

Morcom has enjoyed finding the balance between her roles.

"It's really good. The club are very supportive, both with my work and my football. I am very appreciative of that," she said. 

"It does take a little bit of a balance, and sometimes you've got to keep switching the headspace to be like, 'OK, now's work time versus football time'. 

"But all in all, I do a pretty good job of balancing it, but I couldn't do that without the support of everyone around me. I really enjoy it as well, which makes it easy."

An original 2018 member of the Bombers' VFLW team - and the only player from that group on their current AFLW list - Morcom was signed as an injury replacement player ahead of Essendon's inaugural season in 2022.

She became a lock in Essendon's defence and hasn't looked back.

"She's here all the time. She'll always just put on a smile and just get to training, because she just loves her footy," teammate Maddi Gay told AAP.

"She's one player that just gets the job done week in, week out. I love playing alongside her. I tell her every week.

"I just really wish people on the outside saw the work that the girls have to put in.

"Because it's just inspiring, being their teammate, seeing them work all day and then put it on the track as well."

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