Eastlake Demons player Catherine Brown signs with Hawthorn FC for club's inaugural AFLW season

She would run around kicking the footy with the other kids growing up, as her father helped out at Eastlake Demons.

Back then, however, she could have never dreamed of a top flight for women like the AFLW, or the fact she would be playing in it for Hawthorn FC one day.

"My whole family is an AFL family, so I've always been around it," she said.

"Footy was certainly my first love, but I turned to soccer because girls just didn't play footy back then.

"So seeing Hawthorn come to fruition as an AFLW club is really exciting and then to be able to have some sort of impact of what that looks like going forward, and on the legacy that it leaves as a club.

"Hopefully we can build something amazing."

MORE IN CANBERRA SPORT:

The Eastlake captain has signed with Hawthorn for the club's inaugural AFLW season, under the guidance of fellow Canberran, head coach Bec Goddard.

Although her AFLW contract is not her first professional gig, as the 28-year-old grew up playing soccer and donned the Canberra United green for a number of A-League Women's seasons.

Ahead of the inaugural AFLW season in 2017, however, Brown turned her attention back to footy before an untimely knee injury kept her off the park.

"I started playing footy to prove to myself that I could do it, because I'd previously blown my knee out trying to do it," she said.

"I was splitting my time between soccer and footy, and then slowly just transitioned to playing footy last year."

This season will not be the first time Brown's worn the Hawthorn jersey, having played for the club in last year's VFLW before COVID-19 border closures stopped her fly-in-fly-out commitment.

The nurse considered travelling from Canberra for the VFLW game day, as she did last season, but opted against it in 2022.

"I'd leave work on a Friday, go straight to the airport and then fly out either on Saturday night or early Sunday morning," she said.

"Personally things weren't right to go back, so I thought the [AFLW] door was shut, but then Bec gave me a call."

One downside for the utility player is relocating to Melbourne for the six-month season, leaving her partner and three-year-old daughter Mason in the capital.

Brown said she knew it would be hard, but a nursing colleague put it into perspective when they said if she was an AFLM player pursuing their dream, it would not be a question.

"That was one of the biggest decisions, leaving my partner and Mason behind to go do this," she said.

"I have a suspicion it'll be one of those things that I don't realise how tough it is until I'm doing it, but for me it's more than just playing footy.

"It's about visibility and illustrating a direct example to my daughter, and then obviously anyone.

"One of my biggest motivating factors was the visibility, because it's super important. So you can see that you can do anything, particularly for Mason and for all little girls everywhere."

In other AFLW news, former Belconnen Magpies player Emily Pease recommitted to the GWS Giants until the end of 2023.

The club's Rising Star Award winner impressed in her nine games last season, and the 19-year-old will look to build on her form in her second season in orange.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: