WHILE SHE WASN’T anticipating a smooth transition, Vikki Wall has said that switching over to Sevens rugby has been even more of a challenge than she originally envisaged.

A two-time All-Ireland senior championship winner with her native Meath in ladies football – she also has a national intermediate title to her name from 2020 – Wall played Aussie Rules for North Melbourne in the 2022 AFL Women’s season.

She returned to represent the Royals during their unsuccessful defence of the Brendan Martin Cup earlier this year, but instead of embarking on another AFLW campaign, the Dunboyne woman joined the IRFU’s Sevens programme as a centrally contracted player in August.

There is the possibility of lining out for her country at next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, but Wall’s focus for now is on establishing herself in the Sevens set-up. The Ireland women’s team will kick-off their latest World Series campaign with a tournament in Dubai on the weekend of 2-3 December and Wall was yesterday named in their 19-strong centralised squad for the 2024 season.

“More challenging, in so many different ways. First of all, coming into a team that has already qualified for the Olympics, you definitely have to be conscious of that. Then you also have to back yourself as well, so it’s that kind of better of two evils. You can’t walk in the door and be screaming and shouting,” Wall remarked at a Sevens media day at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre.

“You also have to have some form of confidence from where I’ve come from previously. It’s harder just in terms of the intricacy of it, almost. Things that I do almost instinctively in other games that I could definitely transfer easier to AFLW, that definitely don’t transfer to here.

“Just even running patterns and things as simple as that. The timings of the games and the differences in terms of the quickness of thought and things like that. I’m not saying the other two sports don’t have it, but it’s just a different level.”

Although she doesn’t have a precise timeline, Wall revealed it is within the past 12 months that she first started to hold discussions with the IRFU about joining the Sevens programme. In addition to the union’s High Performance Director David Nucifora, she also spoke to the team captain Lucy Mulhall – who she had previously faced in Gaelic football – and head coach Allan Temple-Jones before ultimately opting to take on this new challenge.

The prospect of becoming an Olympian would be seen as an obvious draw, but the chance to don the green jersey at international level is also something that appealed to Wall.

“First and foremost, I’ve been able to play for Ireland [she has already featured in a series of pre-season training tournaments]. That’s an unbelievable opportunity. If you told me that when I was younger, I wouldn’t have even foresaw being in rugby, if I’m being perfectly honest. It just wasn’t something I saw in my future.

“Then obviously there is the Olympics at the end of the year and you’re not going to lie to yourself, it’s there. I’m breaking it down into next day, next month, whatever it is. Just setting myself small goals and I don’t just have one outcome goal of making the squad in 2024. There’s so much more I want to achieve within Sevens Rugby.”

Interestingly, Wall’s place within the North Melbourne squad for the 2023 AFL Women’s season was taken by Ailish Considine – the younger sister of former Ireland 7s and 15s international Eimear Considine, who underwent a similar transition to one Wall is going through at the moment.

When announcing earlier this summer that she wouldn’t be part of their plans for 2023, North Melbourne also acknowledged that “We expect Vikki to return to our program ahead of the 2024 AFLW season but, importantly, wish her the very best in her Olympics campaign.”

Even though the 2021 Ladies Football Senior Players’ Player of the Year isn’t ruling out a resumption of her AFLW career at some point, she admitted that her Sevens commitments will likely affect her ability to tog out for Meath in 2024.

“I haven’t ruled anything out with them [North Melbourne], to be honest. I’m in contact with them all the time, keeping up with the game over there. They’re doing really well this year, so maybe they won’t want me back next year! I don’t know what the story is, to be honest,” Wall added.

“As much as I’d love to be over in Australia right now playing for North Melbourne and playing for Meath, being in here it’s just not a possibility. Unfortunately they are some of the decisions and consequences.

“They were definitely high up on the priority of conversations and the Meath girls were some of the first people you’re ringing and telling and talking through things with. It’s something that maybe I’m not having to deal with right now because the season hasn’t started yet, but it will be more to the forefront in January.”

Daire Walsh