Ella Ross played softball for 18 years before trading in the catcher's glove for a Queanbeyan Tigers singlet.
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The two sports couldn't be any more different, but two-time premiership winner Ross still managed to find some common ground.
"The one skill that's transferable is picking up a ground ball on the run," Ross said, ahead of Saturday's grand final rematch with the Belconnen Magpies.
"In softball, in the outfield if you get smashed a ball on the ground, you've got to run at pace, get down really low, your hand has to touch the ground with pace to pick it up so you don't miss it and it goes past you.
"In drills in training if there's a ball on the ground and I'm running at full pelt I'm confident I can pick it up.
"It's such a different sport. Softball's a very power sport, whereas footy is like endurance."
The star Tigers midfielder is a perfect example of how much the women's game has boomed in the past decade.
This week the AFL announced it would be expanding its national women's competition to 18 clubs, with Port Adelaide, Sydney, Essendon and Hawthorn set to introduce their own female teams into the top league.
It's another major stride forward for the sport at a national level, but one which was taken more than 11 years ago at the Tigers when Queanbeyan first entered the competition.
"Since then we've grown to two teams, we've made grand finals in both years back to back, the depth we have at the moment is really strong," Ross said.
"Our younger players through our Auskick see that and see the pathway that you can have. We've had girls drafted [to the AFLW] in numerous consecutive years as well. That's a big drawcard to the club and it keeps our juniors there wanting to play into the senior roles.
"That's one of the things that I see success, player retention and also the depth that we have in our club. Yes we make a first grade grand final, but to make our second grade our second team of the club into a grand final as well.
"Two years ago we had four girls drafted. It's definitely a testament to our club's structure and our program. Chris Clifton, our head coach, he's just really developed our female program."
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Ex-Tiger Tarni Evans was drafted to GWS last season, a path Ross followed when she spent a year at the Giants in 2017.
A trip to Richmond's VFL team followed before she ended up back in her home town chasing more premiership success - a fire burning stronger than ever after last year's loss to the Magpies.
"Everyone's bounced back well and in the right head space," Ross said.
"Lots to learn and develop from in the grand final last year. I don't think it was a bad game for us, I think Belconnen just knew how to play against us."
The Magpies men's side also host the Tigers on Saturday in a top-of-the-table blockbuster.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
