Towns original celebrates milestone as Leilani Paradella passes 50 games

Another week and another millstone for the GNFL, this time for Towns player Leilani Paradella who achieved her 50th game for the club last week.

Paradella has been at the club since 2018 and has the honour of being the only one left from the original team still playing for Towns and has been captain of the team since their inaugural year.

Paradella not only has a passion for the club and footy in general but also takes her responsibility as a role model very seriously.

“I have grown up around footy having both older brothers that have a strong passion for the game. I guess their love of footy rubbed off on me. I would usually be out kicking the footy with them on the farm,” she said.

There was never really any doubt about which club she would play for.

“My brother played for Towns and I guess it would be weird for me to play elsewhere, the club is my family and I couldn’t see myself playing for another club,” Paradella said.

“They’re an amazing bunch of people who will always have your back.”

She has plenty of aspirations and has plenty of support backing her up as well.

“I want to be the best player I can,” she said.

“I’m definitely my harshest critic as well as my family who are also my biggest supporters but I take that tough love to fuel my drive to work harder.

“If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.”

She has a simple advice for any young girl looking to come into the game.

“Don’t be afraid to go out there and give it a go,” she said

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something, you are the only one that can determine that, and if you go in with the mentality you can’t do it, then you’ve already lost.”

Paradella has also been witness to the incredible growth of women’s footy across the region.

“The game has changed so much since I first started, especially the Towns team, we always struggled to get enough numbers as I felt like people were too scared to put their bodies on the line, but now it’s the opposite.”

“We now have enough girls interest in the game that we can get a youth competition,

“We have a strong youth team at Towns and I’m so excited to see them come up into seniors and really show their talent and develop further.”

Towns women’s side were unfortunately beaten by the Rams women in the preliminary final last weekend.