Sophie O'Brien admits she is not a particularly good spectator.
But the Newcastle Olympic captain and centre-back is taking a cautious approach as she returns from injury with the hope of being ready to play in the first round of Northern NSW Football National Premier Leagues Women (NPLW) mid-March.
The 23-year-old primary school teacher's 2021 season was cut short when she ruptured the Achilles tendon in her left leg last May.
"I was just playing the ball out from the back at training," O'Brien said. "I turned around to [goalkeeper] Nat [Wiseman] and I thought she'd thrown a rock at me.
"It's the first long-term injury I've had and I definitely don't want to have another. It's very isolating."
Surgery to reconnect the tendon followed four days after sustaining the injury. After two weeks of bed rest O'Brien was confined to wearing a boot for three months and reduced to a frustrated spectator as the defending champions and premiers pushed for back-to-back titles.
Olympic replaced Wallsend in NNSW Football's women's top-flight competition in 2020 and wasted little time declaring their arrival by capturing the premiership-championship double.
They finished a close second to Broadmeadow in the race for the premiership last year in a season which was cut short due to COVID.
"I didn't end up missing out on too many games with COVID to be fair, probably only about five," O'Brien said.
"I was still going to training and being around the team for that camaraderie, which I love. But it was hard to be a spectator, so it's good to be back."
O'Brien returned to no-contact training before Christmas and is now back training with the squad.
But she is erring on the side of caution as she eyes the approaching NPLW season, which kicks off when Broadmeadow host Adamstown at Magic Park on March 18. It will signal the dawn of a new era for women's football in NNSW with the competition transitioning to NPLW status this year.
In other round-one matches, Olympic play Charlestown Azzurri, Warners Bay host New Lambton and Maitland meet Mid Coast.
"I wasn't expecting to be back this soon," O'Brien said.
"They say it usually takes 12 to 18 months and there's a certain percentage of re-rupturing. They give you all of those statistics, which is a bit frightening.
"I thought I'd better do the rehabilitation properly, take the time to do all of the little one per centers to make sure that it's right and to do all I can to prevent it from happening again.
"It's still causing me a fair bit of grief but my physiotherapist said that I should be right to play first round and that's what I'm hoping for.
"I'm going to play a couple of games in reserve grade just to try to get some confidence back and to try to get some minutes in. I'm very unfit, as you can imagine."
Olympic have retained the bulk of their squad, including Jets forward Jemma House.
Paul DeVitis has taken over as coach from Harmonie Attwill, who stepped aside after last season due to other commitments.
"We've got Paige Kingston-Hogg and Alesha Clifford on board, which I think will be two great additions to our team as well as the depth that we already have in the squad," O'Brien said.
"Warners Bay will obviously be strong with the players they have picked up, and that's definitely great for the league. I think we definitely should be aiming for the top two again. It was disappointing that we were one point behind Magic last year."
The Panthers have added Jets trio Cassidy Davis, Tara Andrews and Lauren Allan to their squad. Jets teammate Gema Simon will play for Charlestown Azzurri.
