Leia Puxty watched good friend Kirsty Fenton flourish on debut last A-League Women's season and the Adamstown Rosebud captain is determined to also prove herself through any opportunities that come with a Newcastle Jets contract.
The Jets announced on Tuesday they had signed the talented young defender to her first national league gig.
It was "a dream come true" when the San Remo 18-year-old was handed a position in the Jets 2022-23 squad by coach Ash Wilson.
The offer came after Puxty was asked to train with the Jets last season then invited to trial as part of a select elite squad that has been training with Wilson once a week for the past couple of months.
"We'd had the first few training sessions and had done lots of running, lots of hard work with Ash and Gary [van Egmond] testing our limits," Puxty said.
"I felt good through those then I got a phone call one day when I was at work and it was Ash. I was jumping up and down. It was awesome.
"It's been a dream of mine and something I've always worked for. I'm stoked. I'm so keen."
The left-back is the fourth Jets signing to be announced for the upcoming season, which begins on November 18. Captain Cassidy Davis, defender Taren King and scholarship holder Lara Gooch have also been confirmed.
Puxty is a Budgewoi Football Club junior. She came through the Jets Academy before playing three seasons with Adamstown Rosebud in Northern NSW Football's top-flight women's league.
"I needed something fresh and I worked with [Adamstown coach] Ryan [Campbell] all through Jets and I loved how he coached, so I thought I'd follow him, and he's probably one of the main reasons I am where I am," Puxty said.
"I'm hoping to get a really good season in, learn a lot from Cass and everyone. I've always looked up to all of them. I'll be trying my best to get in the starting line-up and prove myself."
Fenton, another Jets Academy product who represented the Young Matildas at the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica last month, was named Jets young player of the year after a break-out first campaign.
"Kirsty is chasing her dream and killing it," Puxty said. "She's been one of my best friends since year seven and she's gotten everything she deserves. She got given that opportunity last year and it boosted her so much."
Puxty is expected to also get her chance with news breaking on Wednesday that the Jets' longest-serving player and last season's co-captain Gema Simon had parted ways with the club.
Simon, a left-back who played 13 seasons and 130 games for Newcastle, has signed with ALW champions Melbourne Victory. It will be her second stint with Victory after playing there in 2014.
"Puxty has been on our radar for a while," Wilson said. "She's someone that had a lot of talent coming through our Academy program.
"She's someone that is so competitive and she's someone that's prepared to work hard at all times. You add that to the technical quality that she has - she's both footed - and she's got a lot of desirable attributes.
"She's going to be determined to do well and she's going to learn a lot in that environment. It's a very different environment and I trust that she's up to that challenge. I think if and when she does get any opportunity with game time that she's going to take that opportunity with both hands."
The Jets are set to begin pre-season training on October 14 with their sights set on a finals appearance this campaign. Newcastle's women have only made finals twice in the history of the A-League and finished eighth last season.
Wilson will look to complement local talent with overseas prowess and confirmed she had "signed a couple of internationals" without giving anything else away.
The ALW has expanded to 18 rounds with the addition of Western United.
