Canberran Grace Gill's twist of fate led to her new football chapter commentating in the A-Leagues

Gill was injured in the stands during her W-League career with Canberra United, before a commentator pulled out and she was called up to cover the match.

"Teo Pellizzeri was meant to be calling the game with someone else and for whatever reason that other person couldn't, and someone asked me if I'd step in," she recalled.

"I thought, 'Yeah, I'll give that a go', and since then it's sort of snowballed and gained a lot of traction. So as I stopped playing I got a few more opportunities in the Canberra games and the W-League games."

Gill is heading into her fifth A-Leagues commentating season but still hones her skills in the off-season alongside Canberra NPL commentator Russ Gibbs when she is not playing for Canberra Croatia FC.

"It's good practise, having someone like Russ there is pretty handy," she said.

"The women's game is much more my competition, just because I know so many of them and I know the background and history. But then to work on one of the men's games, I have to do a whole lot more preparation around players and background and history and pronunciation."

Gill is yet to do any play-by-play commentary for the A-Leagues - despite her experience - with Stephanie Brantz one of the only female lead commentators on the national stage in Australia.

Former female players are starting to make ground in England's WSL and Premier League as lead-commentators, so Gill said it was starting to gain a bit of traction overseas.

"There is such an opportunity for women to be involved as a lead commentator. I've never done that before," she said.

"It's nothing that I'm really proactively focusing on right now, but I wouldn't completely rule it out in terms of an opportunity in the future.

"There are some women who are doing work locally in NPL-land, but there's very few lead female commentators. So there's a massive opportunity for more women to be involved."

Former Matildas goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri wants to be one of them. She has been commentating in the Victorian NPL and wants to work her way up to calling the national level once she hangs up her gloves for Melbourne City.

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Female expert commentators and hosts heading up the A-Leagues this season include Gill, Tara Rushton, Niav Owens, former Matildas defender Georgia Yeoman-Dale and former Matildas midfielder Amy Chapman.

The A-Leagues' play-by-play commentators, however, appear to be all male.

While 32-year-old Gill was focused on developing her commentary, and not breaking the glass ceiling just yet, she said former players added value as expert commentators.

And she went down the commentary path because it reminded her of playing. She still had to train, rewatch her performances, do research and prepare. And her game-day nerves continued.

"A lot of players look to coaching and being involved in the game in that aspect. Coaching wasn't really something that set my soul on fire," she said.

"Commentary has been a massive learning opportunity. I've really enjoyed it for that reason because it has continued to put me outside of my comfort zone but also keep me involved in the game and keeps me involved in Canberra United without continuing to play."

The former midfielder played for Canberra United from 2008 to 2016, before she announced her professional retirement.

Her longevity in the ALW means she comes across past teammates, rivals and coaches quite often during her commentary, which added an extra balancing act.

"It's a really fine line between looking at a game, looking at a player and being honest, critical and providing a level of analysis that if someone's listening to you, they go, 'Oh, yeah, that makes sense'," she said.

"You're there to almost explain and describe the things that the viewer can't see, and that can be a balance when it's someone you know, and legitimately a friend.

"I know when I started I was very hesitant to be critical or to say anything that was at all negative because you feel bad. But you hone your skills over time to understand how you can talk about something in a way that is true and that is an accurate reflection, but is also respectful of a player or friend."

The public servant juggles her commentary alongside work and playing for Canberra Croatia in the NPLW.

She thought this season would be her last with the Deakin-based club, but was not ruling out a return in 2022.