It was the golden moment clouded in sadness as young Sophie Locke made history with Hawthorn’s first-ever goal in the AFLW.
The 21-year-old, who lost her mother just two weeks ago after a battle with cancer, made a fairytale debut at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.
She earnt herself a free kick at the top of the goal square early in the contest with Essendon, and slotted her first-ever goal in emotional scenes.
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Teammates came from everywhere to get around the youngster, as she kissed her armband and pointed to the sky.
Locke’s dad Stu told ABC Radio he had hoped his daughter would be the one to make history.
“We all hoped she’d get the first goal … I said to her today it doesn’t always go the way you want it to go … but today it did,” he said.
Family and friends had travelled from Seymour, where Locke trained with the boys growing up, to be part of the special day.
Earlier this week, vision of Locke breaking down in tears being told of her debut went viral as the club shared the emotional scenes online.
Coach Bec Goddard was full of praise for Locke’s courage to take the field on Saturday night.
“I thought she was our most dangerous forward on the ground,” Goddard said.
“I think she finished with about 10 kicks and five tackles, kicked a goal, and she just looked dangerous every time it was near her.
“She’s a remarkable young person, never played AFLW before and the tragedy of her family over the past couple of weeks and the way that she kept turning up, she’s a real character of our footy team and she really wears her heart on her sleeve so it was great that we could get her a goal.”
Teammate Kaitlyn Ashmore spoke this week of how Locke had impressed since arriving at the club.
“We played on the MCG two days after her mum passed and she was just so resilient. And the way she goes about it, you know, she’s only young as well and it just means so much to the playing group to have her around,” Ashmore said.
“I just want them to go out there and have some fun and, you know, she plays her best footy when she’s having fun.”
