In December 2023, with the Grand Final loss to Brisbane still burning for most North Melbourne players, Sarah Wright decided she was done.

She was 29 but it wasn't about the body, or the Grand Final. More that she had other priorities. And with five AFLW seasons under her belt, despite no premiership cup, she felt she'd squeezed enough out of footy.

"For me, a premiership isn't everything," Wright says. "I thought I'd achieved everything I wanted to achieve.

"There was a bit of fatigue from balancing work and footy, and then wanting to explore different things, like travel, before I get too old.

"So when it came to thinking about (playing again), I was not too keen."

When Wright says "a bit of fatigue", here is what she means.

On a typical training day last season, her alarm would go off at 3.45am. At 4am, she'd drive out to the family-owned warehouse, a 300-person operation based in Laverton in Melbourne's west, which Wright now runs following her dad's retirement.

She'd work at the warehouse until 7.30am, then head into the club for training. After the training session, team lunch, line meetings and other duties, if the footy schedule allowed she'd drive back to Laverton to catch up on jobs and set up the warehouse for the following day.

On a good day she'd finish around 6pm, leaving a couple of hours to grab dinner and hang out with her partner, Kate.

"It was quite draining," she says.

It took four months after December's Grand Final for Wright to reconsider her decision to quit football. She credits Kate for talking her around.

"We were deciding what we wanted to do this year," Wright says. "She's one that likes to travel and do everything and take every opportunity, but she said to me: 'If there's a little part of you that still thinks you're not done, go for it. You're never gonna have an opportunity like this again. So if it's something deep down that you think you want to do, do it.'

"And although it isn't a driving factor," Wright says, "I thought, 'Oh, hold on, maybe I do want to win a premiership'.

"And from that, I kind of switched my mindset. She was so motivating. I get emotional about it, but she's been really, really supportive."

Once she'd resolved to play on, Wright set about adapting to a fresh set of responsibilities in North Melbourne's defence.

Key defender Libby Birch's Trade Period arrival changed the Kangaroos' defensive structure, freeing up Wright to become more involved in the play. 

A natural read of the ball, she's thrived in the new role. Though Birch and fellow defender Jasmine Ferguson have also enjoyed strong seasons, earlier this month Wright was the only defender among five Kangaroos short-listed for this year's All Australian team.

While she continues to juggle her demanding job at the warehouse, she's adjusted her hours, and received support from the club to occasionally head out early to Laverton when the training schedule permits.

A lifelong North Melbourne fan, Wright grew up in suburban Keilor with her three sisters including her identical twin, Gemma.

Sarah is the older twin by one minute ("I'll take it," she says). Gemma, she says, is the better player.

In the backyard as kids, Gemma would pretend to be Glenn Archer. Sarah would be Anthony Stevens.

They played local footy together at Keilor, winning three premierships. In one Grand Final, just before half-time Sarah bent down to collect the ball and an opponent's knee hit the back of her head. She played out the game, riding another fierce hip and shoulder, only learning afterwards she had fractured her neck. She spent the next 16 weeks in a neck brace.

In 2019 the twins were VFLW teammates at Carlton, where Gemma won the best and fairest and Sarah came second. In that year's draft they were both recruited to AFLW clubs, their paths only diverging as Sarah went to North Melbourne and Gemma went to Geelong.

While Sarah immediately felt supported at Arden St, Gemma struggled away from home, suffering mental health issues which eventually forced her to quit the game.

"It was a really hard time," Wright says.

"She was my twin, but for a long time I didn't fully understand what she was actually going through.

"We've got a really close family, and it was so tough, for Gemma most of all but for mum and dad and all of us, too."

Gemma's doing well these days, Wright says. She's back in footy and was recently appointed senior coach at Westmeadows, where she also plays.

Though her own AFLW opportunity was cut short, Gemma doesn't miss a match of Sarah's. When Sarah checks her phone after games, she'll normally find three or four messages from her twin about passages of play she'd been involved in. 

"Gem and I have become closer through everything that's happened," Wright says. "To see her on the other side of all that she went through is really amazing."

The experience has made Wright more aware of when others may be struggling. Her teammates joke that she'd win Olympic medals for grump, but they're also quick to note she's one of the most caring players at the club.

"For me now, there's little things that I look for," Wright says.

"You don't know what someone's going through, that's the hardest thing. 

"I'm not one to publicly go over and speak to someone, but I'll send them a text message and just check in."

When star Brisbane forward Dakota Davidson received abuse for her appearance earlier this season, Wright got in touch.

"She was someone that I reached out to because it's just s***. At the end of the day, we're people. I understand it's a game and supporters can be very invested in it, but you walk off the ground and we're all just people."

Wright hopes to stay involved in football when she eventually retires from playing, and after she and Kate have finally scratched their travel itch ("she'll want to take us somewhere hot," Wright says). 

Becoming involved in player welfare is one possibility. Coaching is another.

In the meantime she'd like to see the AFL make a more concerted effort to tackle player abuse, particularly on social media.

"On the one hand it's up to us players to just not look at those things. But sometimes if you have a bad game, that's the first thing you might do," she says. 

"There were a couple of games earlier in my career where there were some comments about me and 'Ferg' (fellow defender Ferguson).

"And I lost it and I just remember looking at it and crying 'cos it was so personal. It's just like, why? You can have your say, you can be unhappy, but there are people who will take it too far, and definitely more could be done about that."

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