Adriana Konjarski readily admits to wearing emotions on her sleeve.
But as the home-grown talent eyes her first national league appearance since 2018-19, she believes it is with a more level head.
The 27-year-old is back in Newcastle Jets colours this campaign after a stand-out NPLW Northern NSW season with premiers and champions Warners Bay.
Konjarski proved pivotal to the Panthers' success, scoring an unbeaten 39 goals in the competition to be recognised as its leading scorer and player of the year.
The experienced forward is driven to achieve further success at the next level.
"When you're playing for your home town you want to do as well as you can to prove we're not just underdogs any more," Konjarski said.
"We want to prove that we can do something."
The Jets have only twice made finals since the A-League began in 2008. The last time was in 2017-18, when they lost a semi-final showdown with Sydney in extra time.
Konjarski played the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons with Newcastle before stints at Adelaide (2016-18) then Melbourne City (2018-19).
Her national league recall unfolded organically this year after not initially being on her radar.
"After coming off a good season I thought, 'Why not, I'll give it a shot again', and [Jets coach] Ash [Wilson] has brought me into the team and I'm just grateful to be here," Konjarski said.
"I'll be happy with whatever I get, really. If I start, that's a bonus. If I get to play 90 minutes, that's even better. But I'm grateful for whatever I get because I didn't expect to be here, so I'm just happy that I am.
"I think I'm a lot more mature than what I was when I was here before. I've got a lot more maturity and football games in me.
"I can come in and actually keep a level head and not get too emotional, so I think I can do a better job this time around."
Scoring is one area Wilson has targeted for improvement this year as Newcastle eye a finals spot.
Konjarski is part of a new-look front third. Sunny Franco, Sophie Harding and Jemma House were not re-signed by the Jets.
They have added Chicago Red Stars forward Sarah Griffith, who scored in Newcastle's 2-2 draw against Western Sydney Wanderers in a trial match last Saturday, Konjarski and Maitland captain Sophie Stapleford to their strike force.
Jets all-time leading scorer Tara Andrews plus Lauren Allan and Ash Brodigan are on board again.
Konjarski, Andrews (27 goals), Allan (19) and Jets midfielder Cassidy Davis (24) combined at Warners Bay for 109 of the Panthers' 122 goals in 23 games.
Wilson will be hoping the quartet's lethal form continues for Newcastle, who scored just 15 goals last season for the third-worst attacking record in the competition.
Konjarski played the first 45 minutes against Wanderers and was looking forward to getting more minutes into the legs when Newcastle play Sydney FC in another trial hit-out in Sydney this Saturday.
The game rounds out a short pre-season before Newcastle launch their 2022-23 campaign against Brisbane in Queensland on November 19.
"Good work ethic is a constant every single game," Konjarski said.
"As long as we're working hard off the ball we're going to get a good result.
"That's the main focus going into Sydney FC, just don't let them have silly little mistakes or errors. Work hard and we'll get rewarded."
The Jets play Wanderers in Tamworth on November 26 before hosting Perth at No.2 Sportsground, where they will play all of their A-League Women's home games, on December 3.
