SINCE 2020, Taylor Smith has experienced it all. The highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.

She earned her place on an AFLW list with Gold Coast as a 19-year-old, but was delisted after just one game. She landed a spot with Brisbane the following season and won a flag within the year, but then her father passed away suddenly.

Now, she is hitting her best form off the back of a second premiership, but everything is done with the goal of making her dad proud, as the three-year anniversary of his death approaches.

"(It's) a big week, and I always seem to play the Suns," Smith told AFL.com.au.

"And I was at the Suns for a bit, so it's funny how it seems to work out. We played on Father's Day this year as well, there's a whole story with the whole ladybug thing."

Lifting her arm to show a small tattoo of a ladybug on her wrist, she continued.

"He would hate it, but on Father's Day, in the middle of the ground, a ladybug landed on me. I was like, 'What are the odds?' and that happened to my whole family after he passed."

As Smith stands in a partially lit players' race at Ikon Park, just outside Brisbane's changerooms, Nelly Furtado's 'Man Eater' leaks through the door separating her from her teammates' warm down.

She shivers slightly, not only because of the cool Melbourne air, but because of the large bag of ice strapped to her ankle after rolling it during that evening's win over Carlton.

"The first time I rolled it was against Carlton in 2022, but it will be fine… everyone has those reoccurring injuries that you learn how to manage, so I'm not worried," Smith said reassuringly.

Her determination to quell any concerns that it might force her to the sidelines in coming matches is evidence that she now fully understands her importance to the team.

Currently leading the AFLW goalkicking tally for the season, Smith has been one of the competition's breakout players this year, and among Brisbane's best.

"I feel emotional now. To have built over the last three years is I think really surprising. It's just been something I've been chipping away at," Smith said, with some tears threatening to spill over.

"(Dad) always used to use the word 'fruition', and I feel like now all the hard work that I've put in over the last three years is coming to fruition."

It's about building trust with her teammates – that trust being a two-way street – and this is created with both on-field and off-field efforts.

In the darkest days following her dad's passing, her teammates were the ones who helped her through.

"I had the girls rocking up at my house five days after my dad passed away, bringing flowers, candles. (They) got me through literally everything," Smith said.

"I had two weeks off after he passed, and went back to training and I could keep together sometimes, you're not really thinking about much and you kind of just stop being sad almost.

"And there'd be times I would cry between drills, and Belle (Dawes) would just look at me from the other side, she'd come over, she wouldn't say anything, she'd give me a hug. And that was all I needed."

Compartmentalising in that really difficult time was key, and that was only made possible because of the support around her at the club.

And now, the club is reaping the rewards of that support with Smith's impressive form on the field.

"I've always wanted to go out and my teammates have trust in me and be able to rely on me to do that," she said.

"Converting my goals has been something that has earned me some more respect and trust in my teammates, and because we're so close as a team, you realise how much we are connected as a group, and we have genuine trust and respect and love for each other."

Smith's ability to look inward and understand the intricacies of her emotions belies her 24 years. That maturity is a personality trait that she got from her dad.

"I've always been told I've been very mature for my age, and it's actually so much my dad. My dad and I are so similar, and he's just always instilled really good values and morals, both of my parents have really… I'm so lucky to have been brought up the way I have been," Smith said.

This is reflected in the way the forward goes about her footy, from her personal mantra that it's not about the goals, it's about the marks and the tackles, to the way she gets around those who have helped her along her journey.

A recent example being her 'O' goal celebration the day following the AFL Grand Final, in honour of injured men's ruck Oscar McInerney, who has been the AFLW program's ruck coach over the last two seasons.

That doesn't mean that the result of that hard work hasn't come as a bit of a surprise. "Never in a million years" did Smith expect to be leading the AFLW's goalkicking ladder at this point of the season, even if she did win the corresponding award in the QAFLW competition in years past.

"But obviously you have to find that at a higher level, four years ago in the QAFLW versus where we are in the AFLW now, it's a completely different standard… I've definitely progressed on that and I'm continuing to shock myself," Smith said.

And as she continues to put her body on the line for her team, she has one thought lurking in the back of her mind.

"I wish (dad) could see this," Smith said.

"I wish he could be here to see the season that we're having as a team, to see that second flag, to see the progression that I've made. I guess I do it for him as much as I do it for myself, and my family."