CYNTHIA Hamilton may come from a big sporting family, but she is carving her own path to the top.
The fourth of six kids from Canberra, Hamilton is a two-time junior All-Australian and Allies MVP, last year's nod coming as a 17-year-old in an under-19 championships.
Eldest sister Chelsey has gone through the football talent pathways, Lexi has just been recruited to Sydney from North Melbourne, while Jayde has also represented her state in junior footy.
Then comes Cynthia, sole brother Riley (a member of GWS' under-16 academy side) and youngest sister Billie, both of whom are keen footballers in their own right.
All are mad Sydney fans, her mum even facetiming Cynthia (who was at work) while pinching a few blades of grass from the SCG to put in a ziplock bag during Lance Franklin's 1000th goal celebrations.
Unlike key forward-ruck Lexi, Cynthia is a shorter, bustling midfielder, a four-time Australian junior judo champion who uses those skills to lay ferocious tackles.
"We all love it. Because there's so many of us, we're all really competitive," Hamilton told womens.afl.
"We always did different sports, but I think the thing that caught me with footy is that there's always a level above, you can always get better and better. It never stops. It's just always on the move.
"I think I love being able to smash people, but you can always get smashed back. If you give it out, you're going to get it back, and I like that element."
A serious ankle injury in the second half of last year tested Hamilton's will to get back to the top.
"I had ankle surgery in October, and I was out for about six months. It was a moon boot, cast, I had some bone taken out which had broken off. It was an extra bone, and it was causing dramas. So I spent all of pre-season this year rehabbing, and my first game back was in April," she said.
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"I doubled-up a game over a weekend, and went up for a mark in the second game and it just didn't feel good when I landed. So it was x-rays, MRIs, all that until they found it.
"Rehab was very hard. Watching everyone else do what I wanted to be doing. (High performance coach for the Giants Academy, Scott Smith), when I got into a shit mental state, he saved my footy.
"I was so close to saying I didn't want to play anymore, but I started gymming most days with him and he changed my mindset. It was hard, but he got me through."
It's not the only health issue Hamilton has suffered on the field, with her parents mandating she wears a helmet after a scary incident when she was 12.
"When I played with the boys, I got a late hit and had a seizure, passed out, it was crazy," Hamilton said.
"I had problems breathing after the hit, but I think that was because I was winded and young and scared, and I ended up passing out. My dad happened to be the runner, I had the seizure, and then I woke up, he was there and I was like 'hey'. I went to hospital after the game finished.
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"The club I was in (Belconnen), the boys were very protective of me, so I wasn't worried about it happening again. I think it was just a complete coincidence.
"That's what I got for Christmas, fresh headgear."
Older sister Lexi was delisted by Gold Coast with one game to her name, and toiled in the VFLW before signing at North Melbourne as an injury-replacement player. She's now made the switch to the Swans.
"She's so resilient. Just the way that she bounced back every single time, if I was in her shoes, I would have been sick of it," Hamilton said.
"She's taught me that just because you're drafted, it doesn't mean you're going to play round one, two and three. I think a lot of girls aren't actually prepared, they think because they've been drafted they're going to play.
"I reckon it really shows that just getting drafted is just the start to another journey."
