Gabby Mooney has been forever bouncing around Aussie rules football teams to "make friends and play footy", but this weekend she will be competing for a chance at the big time.
The Sydney Swans AFL club has won a licence to enter its first AFLW team in the 2023 season.
The Swans will join the national competition when it returns in December, but selections start as early as this month.
A new summer series will feature three stages of competition, starting with the Greater Western Sydney Giants against the Sydney Swans women's teams.
From there, talent scouts from both clubs will be watching their every move to begin 2023 selections.
Sydney Swans Academy leader Chris Smith said the club wanted to throw a wide net for talent.
"There'll be 120 women competing in this summer series over the next four to five weeks," Mr Smith said.
"We then choose a representative squad of 35 women, and another 35 women to do a development program.
Although the club has featured in under-18 AFLW competitions, it will be the Swans' first mature-age team.
"We class anyone above 18 [years of age] as mature, but really these women are mainly 20 to 25," Mr Smith said.
Sporting dreams become a reality
Along with aspiring players from Sydney, the summer series will also feature competitors from regional New South Wales.
April Devine, Brianna McFarlane, Cass Ronalds from the Coffs Harbour Breakers, Lilli-Yana Moody from the Sawtell Toormina Saints, Alice Mitchell from the Gunnedah Bulldogs, and Mooney from the Inverell Saints will travel to Sydney to compete.
For players like Mooney it is a once in a lifetime shot at a professional sporting career.
The full-time occupational therapist said the sport was mainly a hobby in her spare time.
"I've been playing in Inverell, about two-and-a-half hours north of Tamworth, for about four years now. I just joined it to make friends when I moved here," she said.
"I played quite a few sports growing up, but loved the fast nature of AFL.
"With the summer series I suppose it's about putting your best foot forward, playing footy, and seeing where this can take you."
Mooney hoped the sport would one day become a professional career path, the same as her male counterparts.
"But the next step is for it to go fully professional."
SCG blamed for licence delay
The Sydney Swans first applied for an AFLW licence in early 2021 after the AFL Commission set a goal for all clubs to participate by 2023.
A lack of space at the club's headquarters of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) was to blame for the delay in creating a team.
In a 2021 statement, Swans CEO Tom Harley said change rooms, administration, and training areas were not of sufficient size or standard to ensure the club could commit to and develop a women’s team.
When the SCG is not hosting male and female cricket, the stadium also hosts the Sydney Roosters Rugby League, Warratahs Rugby Union, and AFL Sydney Swans, along with occasional junior sessions.
"It wasn't a quick fix," Mr Smith said.
"At the end of the day, you need ovals, you need space, you need bathrooms.
Mr Smith said the refurbishment of Centennial Parklands' Royal Hall of Industries, and financial backing, has supported the incoming AFLW team.
"If you want to create something sustainable like this you have to do it properly," he said.
