Love story: Motherhood is helping Moana Hope re-learn how to love

Moana Hope, who retired from the AFLW, is navigating a profound personal journey of healing and rediscovering the meaning of love. Her retirement has prompted her to confront the normalized chaos and violence that characterized her childhood home.

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when we would be asleep, we would sleep pretty scared because my dad would come home in the middle of the night and he would beat us in our sleep with a pipe

Growing up in a crowded housing commission house in Glenroy, Victoria, with 13 siblings, Hope recalls a childhood marked by scarcity and fear. She recounts instances of her father's abuse, including being beaten with a pipe while sleeping. The lack of physical affection was profound; she remembers never being hugged by her father and only receiving her first hug from her mother at the age of 23.

Hope found solace and a sense of possibility in Australian Rules Football from a young age. Playing with boys and then women's footy at 13, she saw the sport as a pathway to a life beyond her difficult circumstances, offering the potential for a job and a car. Football became her "first love," providing an escape and a glimpse of a different future.

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I was never hugged by my mum until I was about 23.

Her journey into understanding love has been deeply influenced by her relationship with her ex-wife, who helped her recognize that her childhood experiences were not normal. A pivotal moment in her healing process came when her therapist advised her to "love the little girl inside you." This realization brought forth tears and a deep connection to the child who hid under floorboards to escape domestic violence, marking a significant step in her self-acceptance and redefinition of love for herself and her own children.

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Don't forget to love the little girl inside you because I think you need to give her a hug