SHE'S been described by a recruiter as the "General" of this year's under-18 AFLW draft group, having picked up All Australian nods as a defender, forward and midfielder.
But the down-to-earth, very matter-of-fact Lucy McEvoy, who's set to be among the top handful of picks in Tuesday's NAB AFLW Draft, concedes the one thing she's not so good at is sitting still.
The cousin of Hawthorn veteran Ben (who she said, with some bemusement at her own actions, she's yet to contact for any advice), McEvoy set the AFLW world abuzz when she nominated the Melbourne metro portion of the draft, instead of her native Geelong.
The 2019 under-18 All Australian captain has got one eye on her future beyond footy, and wishes to study paramedicine at university, which is more straightforward to study in Melbourne.
>>The 2019 NAB AFL Women's Draft will be live streamed on womens.afl, the AFLW App and the AFLW Facebook account from 10.40am AEDT on October 22.
McEvoy started Auskick with twin brother Charlie at Ocean Grove, moving through junior footy and youth girls at Barwon Heads and then St Mary's, the club which plays at Kardinia Park in the shadows of GMHBA Stadium.
AFLW is a relatively new competition, but St Mary's is already proving to be a rich pipeline for women's talent from the Geelong region, with young stars Nina Morrison and Olivia Purcell also hailing from the club.
"You always pinch yourself playing there," McEvoy told womens.afl.
"You’re like 'Aw, AFL players are over there', or now, 'AFLW players are over there', and sometimes you see them walking back and forth and you’re star struck, but nah, it’s pretty cool."
A representative basketballer for Bellarine Storm, McEvoy eventually gave the sport away at 16 when the demands of football became too much, among other reasons.
"Footy was starting to come out in my basketball so I had to step back a little bit," she said with a grin.
"I’d never been fouled off until my last year of basketball. That was the footy [coming out].
"I really like the physicality of footy, I think that’s really unique to AFL. You don’t really get to tackle someone in other sports without getting abused or something.
"I think footy’s got a really good environment about it and there are so many good people that you can learn off and become future friends with, and just enjoy their company."
McEvoy barracks for Richmond in the AFL, but doesn't have a defined team for AFLW, throwing her support behind friends spread among various clubs.
But one look at her footy heroes gives an inkling into what sort of player McEvoy wants to be.
"The likes of Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce, I love the way they go about it on-field and off-field," she said.
"And in the men's, it's probably Dustin Martin. Just because he's Dusty, the 'don't argue'. I rate that. [My own 'don't argue'] needs some work, I think."
The year 12 student at Geelong's Sacred Heart College relaxes in her own active way, heading to the beach for a surf or taking her German Shepherd-Jack Russell cross dog with a "really big head", Dudley, for a walk.
(McEvoy was surprised when asked if Dudley was named after the Harry Potter character. She didn't know the character existed. There's a different generation now moving into top-flight football.)
"I’m one of those people that nothing really bothers me that much, even though sometimes it really should. Sometimes people say, 'maybe you should take it a little more serious', but I think I want to have a bit of fun too," McEvoy said.
"Obviously everyone has bad form at some point, but if that happens, I try to focus on one thing at a time, whether that be laying the next tackle, one percenters, try and put a block on for a teammate, and try and get myself back into the game that way.
"I’m pretty easygoing. Sometimes, when things start to get a bit hectic, I tell myself to just try and relax a little bit. But if I do actually do 'mindfulness' mindfulness, I find myself fidgeting."
