WONDER WALL

AFLW star Vikki making most of return to Royals ranks she never expected

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VIKKI Wall says it's class being involved with a Meath side in an All-Ireland Final, that she thought she wouldn't be togging out for at all in 2025.

The Royal talisman had put in a huge shift over the previous two years, playing AFLW and also Ireland Rugby 7s.

She also had to bounce back from the personal disappointment of missing out on selection for the Olympics.

It would have been entirely understandable if Wall had sat out this year with Meath as the AFLW and inter-county GAA seasons run straight into each other and also cross over in the early part of the year.

After tomorrow's All-Ireland Final encounter with Dublin, Wall (27) will be heading back out to training with North Melbourne inside a matter of days.

It's a gruelling schedule, but one the Dunboyne codebreaker is going after again.

“(Playing for Meath in 2025) probably wasn't on my cards maybe last November, December, but things change,” said Wall. “Now I'm delighted to be back in. It's class.

“Tve just enjoyed this year so much so far. Obviously, even when results haven't been going our way, or we wouldn't be happy with things, like driving to training every day, just being really grateful to be here.

“Just really lapping it up and really enjoying it — delighted to be back in with the girls. I don't know whether I'm a bit more present than in other years, but for me that's probably a little bit different.

“I suppose finishing up in Oz, it had been a long enough year and a half before that.”

Wall says it’s more a feeling she’s carried back to the Meath setup from professional sport than any specific lessons.

“I don't know if it's so much as what I'm taking from the other sports or just this year being back in,” she says. “Maybe a comparison of realising how much Meath means to me — if that makes sense — when youre away from it for a little while.