Moana Hope on a life spent caring for others and re-learning how to love

May 11, 2026

Moana Hope, former AFLW marquee and community footballer who cared for family while building a life beyond sport. She talks about growing up in a crowded home, shouldering caregiving roles, returning to footy and the realities of semi‑pro life. She also explores motherhood, therapy and relearning how to love and set boundaries.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Growing Up In A Two Bedroom House

Moana Hope grew up in a two-bedroom housing commission house with 13 siblings sleeping in five bunks head to toe.
They played pranks like loosening bunk slats so siblings fell through, and built a chaotic but close-knit “own little footy team.”

ANECDOTE

How Her Mother Ran A Household Of 29

Moana describes her mother organising 29 children with extra rooms built and a whiteboard assigning chores like cooking 24 potatoes for dinner.
Her mum worked night shifts as a nurse, prepared meals, and ran a strict rota that kept the household functioning.

ANECDOTE

Playing With Boys Until They Said No

Moana started kicking a footy aged three and played with boys until 12 when she was told she couldn't continue because “you're going to get boobs.”
She then joined an adult women's team at 13, often the only teenager, wearing a helmet to play.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Former AFLW star Moana Hope has spent her life caring for others, including her dying father and her beloved sister Vinny, who has an intellectual disability. It wasn't until Mo was in her 30s that she realised she needed to learn how to love herself.

Content Warning: this episode of Conversations contains discussion of childhood abuse, domestic violence and suicidal ideation.

Moana Hope grew up with 13 siblings in a two-bedroom housing commission home in Melbourne's north west.

As a little girl, she played football with the boys and then with grown women, and in her 20s she took on full-time caring responsibilities for two of her nephews, as well as her sister, who lives with an intellectual disability.

This backstory, along with her natural talent for the game and charisma off the field, helped Mo stand out as a star of the women's game when the AFLW was launched in 2017.

Mo was a marquee player for Collingwood in the women's debut season.

But she retired earlier than she had planned to.

Post-AFLW, Mo had a lot of time to think about herself outside of football, and about the chaos and violence that was normalised in her childhood home.

But it wasn't until Mo became a mother herself, that she fully reckoned with her understanding of love.

Mo shares intimate snippets from her life on Instagram.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Eliza Kirsch.

It explores AFL, the Pies, Melbourne, Glenroy, Maori heritage, Cancer, death, grief, caring, queerness, footy, Hawthorne, women's sports, cricket, mother daughter relationships, mother father relationships, personal work, therapy, inner child work, sisterhood, engineering, female business owners, motherhood, sons and mothers, violence, abuse, financial abuse, Essendon, GWS, Richmond, Adelaide.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.