In Australia’s match against Brazil at July’s Women’s World Cup, there was a moment that perfectly encapsulated the eye-catching playing style of right-back Ellie Carpenter, who has been voted the 88th best women’s footballer on the planet.

It was the second half, and Australia had dragged themselves back into the game after conceding twice, largely against the run of play. Carpenter collected the ball in her own half and drove into the empty green space beyond. It was an image anybody who has recently watched the 19-year old is familiar with: her torso upright, her arms slicing through the air, her white-blonde ponytail blazing out behind her.

But just as she was reaching maximum stride, Carpenter was tackled. She stumbled into the opposition half and whirled around, realising her mistake: she was out of position, and the whole team would have to slide across to cover her, leaving the far flank exposed. But she did not let them. Instead, Carpenter sprinted back the way she had come as though her life depended on it, covering 20 metres in a few breathless seconds. She caught the tackling player, shouldered her off the ball and came away with it at her feet again.

It was a recovery reminiscent of Kelley O’Hara of the US or England’s Lucy Bronze, not just in the ability to charge down and make a tackle against a world-class opponent, but to do so soon after trying to spark an attack further upfield.

Modern football is defined, in part, by the overlapping full-back. Liverpool’s recent European successes, for example, have come off the boot of their two wide defenders, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. The latter even holds the record for most assists by a defender in the Premier League. It is a position that requires incredible fitness as well as discipline, creativity and a more complex, holistic reading of the field.

O’Hara and Bronze fully encapsulate the philosophy of the overlapping full-back in women’s football, though they weren’t the first to do so. Right-back Kerstin Stegemann was part of Germany’s record-breaking World Cup win in 2007. Her team did not concede a single goal throughout the tournament, while Stegemann herself scored in the semi-final against heavyweights Norway after sprinting almost the entire length of the field and chipping the keeper from inside the box.

Ellie Carpenter in full flow for Melbourne City this season. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

Attacking full-backs have now become a staple of the game, with O’Hara and Bronze arguably the two most dominant players still deployed there. But it is the Lioness who first comes to mind when we talk about the model for the modern full-back: her determined forward runs, her physicality on and off the ball, and her play-making abilities saw Bronze finish fourth in last year’s 100 Best Female Footballers list. You had to go down almost 80 more places before finding another specialist full-back in Selma Bacha (they were, coincidentally, the only two full-backs on the list).

In the four years that she has been on the senior international scene, Carpenter has shown glimpses of the kinds of qualities these influential full-backs possess: boldness, athleticism and a natural instinct to go forward – to find space and create opportunities. She also embodies the ideal Australian style of football in her lung-busting, all-or-nothing approach, whether that manifests in a single tackle or across the full 90 minutes.

Her first season with NWSL club Portland Thorns in 2018 was a memorable one: not only did she become the youngest player to appear in what many consider the best women’s league in the world, at 18 years and 11 days old, but she also became its youngest goal scorer a few games later. They were some fitting records to break given that Carpenter was already the youngest Australian and youngest female footballer to compete at the Olympics, aged just 15.

And yet, for all the hype and the comparisons, there are some glaring differences between the teenage sensation and her more experienced peers. Carpenter is, after all, still not old enough to buy a beer in one of the countries she plays in, and the naivety that comes with being 19 sometimes betrays her on the field. As the opening anecdote highlights, her bravery can come across as carelessness; she has been caught in the headlights more than once, coming unstuck after a step too far in one direction or another, forcing others to paper over her cracks. Her defensive discipline and technique are works-in-progress, and she’s liable to being turned inside-out by faster, smarter players.