Her coach describes her as the ultimate competitor but cricketer Emma Kearney was all about having fun in her AFL Women's debut.
The 27-year-old starred for the Western Bulldogs as they cruised to a 32-point victory over Fremantle on Saturday night.
Kearney gathered a game-high 21 disposals and had the crowd captivated with her explosive pace and clever ball use.
An allrounder with the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, Kearney has had to balance both sports with her career as a teacher.
But she was far from nervous running out onto Whitten Oval for the first time before a near-capacity crowd of 10,100.
"I was pretty relaxed, actually, which is probably a good thing for me," she said.
"If I get too nervous it affects me a little bit. It was just really exciting and fun.
"Look at the crowd. It's unbelievable here."
Western Bulldogs coach Paul Groves was more forthright, lauding Kearney's intensity and commitment to her craft.
"She's the ultimate competitor," he said.
"She likes to lip off on the ground a little bit as well. She just doesn't want to get beat. You see that when she plays the Big Bash as well - there's a real taste for the win essentially.
"Every time she's trained, she's been amazing with us. Obviously it's been tricky balancing it. She's come in and she's been pretty tired quite a bit but we've juggled it really well."
Already touted as premiership contenders before the season, the Bulldogs are likely to surge to favouritism after their win over the Dockers.
But Groves said he wouldn't be putting pressure on the fledgling team to add to the trophy cabinet at Whitten Oval.
"The expectations are for us to be competitive and play good, hard solid football," he said.
"If that results in wins and we have fun doing it, then happy days for us."
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