PROVING yourself with an oval shaped ball is overrated.

Or so it would seem when AFLW clubs are searching for an edge.

Irish dual-sports sensation Sarah Rowe arrived in Melbourne on Thursday having never kicked a Sherrin.

Up until now, the 22 year-old from Ballina, in north County Mayo, has only ever booted a round ball, both in soccer and Gaelic football.

Finals Week 1

She’s reached the pinnacle in both realms, having played in the 2017 All Ireland Final last September as a full-forward and represented her country in soccer, predominantly as a speedy winger.

Now Foxfooty.com.au can reveal all six Victorian-based AFLW clubs are prepared to offer her a contract on the spot for 2019.

That is how highly she is rated.

Having landed on Thursday morning alongside her dad Alan, Rowe spent Thursday and Friday sizing up Collingwood, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs.

Before she heads home on Wednesday, she will visit Melbourne and the newbies of the AFLW: Geelong and North Melbourne.

In between, the soon-to-graduate PE and biology teaching student at Dublin City University will attend the President’s function at the MCG on Sunday and Western Bulldogs v Brisbane clash at Etihad the night before.

It’s a whirlwind trip. But one Rowe would not have any other way as she endeavours to forge a career in a foreign city, playing a foreign game, among foreign people.

Sarah Rowe gets a kick away (Photo: The Irish Times) Source: FOX SPORTS

“I got contacted by a guy in Melbourne after the All-Ireland final last year,” Rowe told foxfooty.com.au.

“It sparked off after that and I began watching more games. Cora Staunton (GWS’ Irish-born player) played on my team at home and I watched her closely.

“I have the emotions of a boy. I get over excited about everything. I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve seen and have taken in everything. At the end of the week I will sit down and assess a bit more and narrow it down to a club.”

Rowe, whose grandfather Paddy Jordan was a key player in Mayo’s 1951 All-Ireland winning team, caught up with a touring Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) side late last year, which sparked her interest in Australian football even more than the inquisitive email received a few weeks earlier.

She’s well aware of the lineage of Irish greats who have forged careers in Australia. From Jim Stynes to Tadgh Kennelly and now Pearce Hanley among others, the country has become an supremely affluent breeding ground for forward-thinking scouts.

There is no reason why women’s football should be any different and, already Staunton, who is 36, has made the leap at the GWS Giants.

By Rowe is a different story. Due to turn 23 in late July, she’s entering the prime of her sporting career and like the AFLW league itself, is ambitious in her goals.

Sarah Rowe poses for a photo in Ireland (Photo: The42) Source: FOX SPORTS

Goals have been plentiful for her in the round ball codes, but her relatively slender size and athletic build is likely to see her used off half-back or in the midfield in Australian football.

It is in these roles where her ability to tackle and be tackled will be tested. For Gaelic football, tackling is a foreign skill and in soccer it’s non-existent from the waste up.

“The physical side of things would be something to learn,” she conceded with a smile.

“You have to learn how to fall right and not injure myself. That will definitely be a challenge.”

But the shape of the ball will be less of a concern if her hour or two hours of kicking and marking late this week was anything to go by.

“The first time I kicked the oval shaped ball was on Thursday,” she said.

“As I said, you can’t trust it but you can trust a soccer ball.

“I’ve started to get used to kicking the ball and the backwards bend. It’s a bit different and the follow through with your kick is something I’d need to learn.

“You kind of have to snap your foot a bit more in AFL. I got the hang of it even though it took me a few minutes.”

Like all good teachers-to-be, Rowe is organised. She has already signed with a manager — James Vine from OMP Sports Management — who is mightily impressed by what he’s observed.

“She has held a football in her hand for less than five minutes and is already able to execute a drop punt,” Vine told foxfooty.com.au

“And it’s a better drop punt than most people who have been playing the game for years!”

Rowe knows that although AFLW is not a full-time job. Conceivably, it could evolve to that across the next decade, which is an appealing possibility for someone who has only ever

Sarah Rowe dribbles the ball along the ground (Photo: The Mayo News) Source: FOX SPORTS

played sport for the love of the game and strictly as an amateur, as is the custom in Ireland.

This is not to suggest money is the driving factor. Whoever offers the greatest financial incentive will not necessarily win her signature.

“I will base my decision on the people,” she said.

“There are clubs with really good facilities, but do they have the same morale?

“So it’s everything combined, plus if they can support me outside of the training track as well. There is so much down time and I don’t have my family or friends out here. I’d like at what I do in my spare time.

“Realistically it’s the feel and the people are most important. To make sure it feels like home.”

She also has the blessing of her father Alan, who was a distinguished rugby union referee in Europe before starting a family of three girls, of which Sarah is the youngest.

“I’m excited on the basis that she’s coming to Australia,” Alan said.

“It’s a football mad and sports mad country. In time, I hope she comes and settles. Eventually I hope she becomes one of those people that makes it big in football here.

“I think it’s possible.”

But judging by the pure fact six clubs are clamouring for her services, “possible” might be a touch conservative from her loving father.

“I was a jack of all trades and a master of none back home,” she said.

“Now I want to make this my home.”

And six clubs are jostling to give her that opportunity.

Now all she has to do is be sure ... to be sure.