McCarthy, whose first game came just a week after Yvonne Bonner at Greater Western Sydney, made an immediate impact by kicking an agile and opportunistic goal against Geelong.

The Dogs were far too good for the fledgling Cats outfit, having put the game largely beyond reach by half-time on the back of four goals to one. Despite obvious excitement over the win from the 22-year-old, she played down her goal that wrest back momentum from Geelong in the 3rd quarter.

“It was really good to get my first win down. I was a bit lucky too with the goal; I didn’t realise we’d gotten a free, so when the ball fell to me it was just instinct to kick for goal when I was in front of it. Right time, right place.”

Having arrived in Australia to begin her footy journey in September, McCarthy had her heart set on lining up in the red, white and blue for their first clash of the year against Adelaide, only to fall just short onto the emergency list.

“I was obviously disappointed to miss out on playing in Round 1," she said.

“I had a great opportunity to travel with the team, so I took that all on board. Then to get the call during the week that I’d be in for Round 2 was great; the girls really talked up what the home crowds are like – that lived up to expectations.”

A healthy crowd it was too, with almost 9,000 spectators on hand to both celebrate the 2018 premiership win over the Brisbane Lions and to get a glimpse of the 2019 version as they leapt to second in Conference A.

“The unfurling of the flag was a great occasion, first home game [since the premiership] as well and I think we put down a mark for what we want to do for the year ahead.”

Given how hungry Aisling was for a Round 1 berth, it’s only natural to expect she’d like to cement her place in the lineup of a team who are equally hungry to go back-to-back; the reality of life as a cross coder hasn’t been forgotten.

“Obviously I’ll go week-by-week; I have a lot of things to work on. I’m new to the sport, so I won’t get too far ahead of myself.

“I’ll sit down with the coaches during the week, I just hope I’ve done enough to stay in the team, but it’s a really competitive environment – they won last year and there’s a good lot of those players still there.

“Fingers crossed, but I’m just open to feedback to keep improving and developing.”