Sport
12 August, 2025
Natte Bealiba’s Emma Ryan marks astonishing achievement with 1000th goal
Natte Bealiba A grade player/coach Emma Ryan hit a spectacular milestone on Saturday, surpassing 1000 goals for the 2025 season.
With a season-high 90 goals against Dunolly the week prior, the 2024 MCDFNL Team of the Year member was 28 goals away from four figures when the Swans travelled to Talbot to take on the Hawks.
Despite being stricken with nerves throughout the match, Ryan reached the milestone early in the third quarter and played a crucial role in an injury-hit Natte coming back against Talbot, eventually winning 54-49.
“I was trying not to think about it too much because I’m very much a person who, if I think about it, I get a bit stressed about it,” Ryan said.
“I was very nervous yesterday, I didn’t think I breathed until that 1000 mark because it was playing on my mind.
“I probably missed a few goals that I would usually get. I don’t even think I looked at the score until that moment was over, and then I relaxed.
“We were able to put our foot down at the end, but credit to Talbot, they were incredible, they came out super hard and threw everything at us.
“Credit to our girls, we lost Shannae Mills, our goal attack in the first quarter to injury, so we had to make a couple of changes that we haven’t had to do at all this year.
“We had to play without our normal seven, which was a challenge in itself, but I’m really proud of the girls for being able to adapt.”
Ever since joining the Swans back in 2023, Ryan has been one of the MCDFNL’s star shooters, finishing as the league’s leading scorer in her debut season and second last year.
After scoring 900 goals in 2024, Ryan has shown noticeable refinement in her shooting this season, improving her shooting percentage by eight percent.
That has resulted in some other-worldly shooting performances, including 85 goals against Campbells Creek in round eight, followed by an 84-goal game versus Harcourt the week after.
Ryan said while her accuracy development and ability to navigate constant double-teams were factors, she couldn’t have reached this achievement without her teammates.
“I sort of grew up being more of a defender, so I’m still trying to learn on the way. Something that I’ve really focused on is getting my percentage up a little bit, so I’m pretty happy with that,” she said.
“I go in most games with the knowledge that I’m probably going to be double-teamed at times, and players are super physical on me, but this year I’ve been able to keep a little bit more composed and calm under those conditions.
“I’m more of a stay in the circle type of goaler, so the girls do a lot of hard work on the outside, and they are the ones who feed the ball into me.
“I definitely couldn’t have done it without these awesome midcourters and Mills, my other goaler, they do a lot of the hard work around me.”
After smashing the 1000 goal barrier, Ryan said her and Natte’s focus is solely on contending for this year’s premiership after falling just short at the hands of Avoca in 2024.
“We know that we have got to work hard over the next month or so, but we definitely have the mindset that we can go really far like last year,” she said.
“We are still trying to keep composed and just take every game as it comes. This weekend against the Giants will be another good test, as was last weekend against Talbot.
“I think it’s a good way going into finals, having some really tough hit outs and trying a few different combinations as well.”