Page 31 of After the Siren

Yelks came to join them at the rail and Riley’s attention turned to his hair. It was up in a half-bun, but there were strands falling loose around his face. Theo got his hand back as Riley reached out to make a grab for it.

‘Captain’s prerogative,’ Yelks said, holding out his arms. Jake handed Riley over, and Riley made delighted noises.

Theo couldn’t remember if Yelks had kids or not, but he seemed relaxed about babies.

Jake snapped a couple of pictures as Yelks hoisted Riley into the air.

Yelks was so big , and Riley was so small.

Jake was running a very aggressive AFLW support campaign on his socials, ably assisted by Paddy and Raze.

They were doing a better job than the club, truth be told.

Greg wasn’t actively being shit, but he didn’t really seem to understand that a show of force was required, or what that might look like.

Theo waved to Gabby as the players finished their warm-up and headed down to the rooms, and she jogged over to the fence.

She’d braided her hair and coiled it up around her head.

She looked even more like an ancient Greek goddess than usual: Athena, if Athena had worn footy shorts and had tattoos on her muscular thighs.

She was the sort of woman who Theo had always found both terrifying and catastrophically attractive.

She could probably break Theo over her knee and he’d thank her for it.

‘Thanks for coming out,’ she said. She was grinning, but there were dark circles under her eyes.

‘Least we could do.’

She shrugged. ‘Still, we appreciate it.’

Jake pulled her into a selfie. She gave Riley a quick kiss on the cheek, then jogged off to rejoin the team.

She’d been doing the brunt of the heavy lifting in the media.

Greg had interviewed her for the Falcons’ socials, and Theo knew she’d done a lot of work on the statement the club had put out.

She’d made time for journos and radio appearances.

He’d seen her and Dex briefly the day before; he’d given them both a hug and told them how fucked up it was.

He’d wanted to say other things as well, tell them how much he admired them for keeping their heads up, how courageous they were, but he wasn’t sure how to say that without the risk of sounding patronising.

Theo joined the honour guard that assembled for when the team ran out.

Most of the men’s team was there, plus a lot of the coaching staff, trainers, spouses and kids.

They cheered the team out, then retreated to a spot close enough to the bench that they’d be visible on the livestream any time it cut to the bench.

A few people came over to chat and get autographs, but in general the crowd seemed to sense that the men’s players were there to watch the game, that it wasn’t about them.

Theo had always assumed Yelks was a bit old school, no matter that he was a good captain and seemed like a good guy. But Yelks had taken control of the Full Forward situation with the same quiet competence he displayed on the field. He’d even managed to get Tenders and Sheds to show up.

It was a great game. The Falcons AFLW team had been solid the previous season, but it was like all the shit over the last couple of days had kicked things up a notch.

It was only a pre-season game, but it looked like a final; the Currawongs were a good team, and just as determined to show what they could do.

The AFLW Falcons played a different kind of game to the AFL team, and Theo enjoyed seeing the game plan unfold: watching how good Gabby was on the rebound from halfback, watching their new full-forward compete hard against the Currawongs’ All-Australian fullback.

Jake kept up a steady stream of encouragement, sometimes under his breath, sometimes at full volume.

It had been a long time since Theo had been to watch a football game. He’d forgotten how much fun it was. It was a close game, too, the lead flipping back and forth, and he found himself leaning out over the fence, yelling just as loud as Jake.

Jake grabbed him by the arm as Gabby put a high kick towards the goal square, then wrapped an arm around his shoulders when Dex came down with it.

His sunglasses had gone a bit askew, and when he turned to say, ‘Fucking beauty of a mark,’ Theo wanted to kiss him so badly he was pretty sure it was written all over his face.

‘Yeah,’ he said instead.

The Falcons managed to get two goals up in the fourth quarter and held on for the win from there.

The handshake line was convivial, players from both teams laughing and joking.

There was a palpable sense of satisfaction from the players and the supporters.

Both teams dispersed along the boundary to chat to the fans, players signing things and posing for selfies.

It was a nice vibe. One of the Falcons players took possession of Riley, galloping off as Riley cackled.

There were a few journos roaming around, searching for sound bites.

They interviewed Gabby close enough that Theo could hear every word.

He didn’t know how she did it. She was a consummate professional, smiling at the camera as the journo tried to bait her into saying something controversial.

Theo could see Jake watching as well, his eyes narrowed a little (one of the ALFW players had nicked his sunnies).

The journo eventually gave up on Gabby and came over to the fence. Theo recognised him as one of the innumerable footy journos who cooked up provocative pieces. He’d written a few pieces about the AFLW, Theo remembered. Mainly we’re all thinking it , I’m just saying it bullshit.

‘Cunningham!’ He sounded delighted. Yelks flinched next to Theo. Jake smiled, but there were a lot of teeth in it. He clearly fucking hated this journalist.

‘Surprised to see you here, Hunter,’ Jake said. ‘Didn’t think you followed the AFLW.’

Brayden Hunter, Theo remembered. He’d played a few games for the Sharks, then slid into footy media. His dad was the CEO of one of the Perth clubs, he couldn’t remember which one.

‘I do when there’s a story,’ Hunter said. He held the mic to Jake’s face and the camera person stepped in closer. ‘You’ve been pretty active on social media over the last couple of days,’ he said. ‘Anything you want to say to a wider audience?’

‘Yeah, actually,’ Jake said. ‘Though I’m not sure you’ve got a bigger audience than I do, mate.’

There was a note in Jake’s voice Theo remembered from months ago, in their room before Jake had come out to him. Yelks looked like he wanted to yank Jake bodily away from the camera.

‘Go ahead.’ Hunter looked thrilled.

Jake looked straight at the camera. ‘Women and non-binary folks have been playing footy for decades, even though everyone tried to stop them. They’ve played on shit grounds with shit facilities at shit times.

They’ve been called names and laughed at and they’ve kept playing because they love the game – love it enough to put up with all of that so they can put their boots on and get out there. ’

He took a breath. Theo could feel Yelks basically vibrating with tension beside him.

‘I saw that piss-weak skit,’ Jake continued, ‘and I reckon if you’re a Falcons fan – or a footy fan – and you’re laughing at that shit, or dragging the AFLW while your ass is stuck to the couch, then you can fuck right off.’

Hunter looked like Christmas had come early. Yelks looked like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to wring Jake’s neck or high-five him. Theo knew exactly what he wanted to do to Jake, but he definitely couldn’t do it in front of a camera.

‘Cheers,’ Jake said, grinning at Hunter. ‘Go Falcons.’