KRSTEL Petrevski has found her calling.
The irrepressible young Melbourne forward was asked to initially mentor, then assistant coach, the all-Indigenous Woomeras representative side at the recent NAB AFLW Under-19 Championships.
She took to it like a duck to water, and has recently decided to study teaching after she completes her double degree of social work and sports science.
The 20-year-old went through the Woomeras representative programs herself as a teenager.
"I never coached prior to actually doing that gig, so I had no idea what I was in for, but I absolutely loved it," Petrevski told womens.afl.
"It was such an eye-opening experience, and now I want to do coaching.
"I had so much enjoyment out of it that I didn't think I would, which was really exciting for me because it's opened another pathway in which to grow and develop and do something I love, mixed with footy as well."
Petrevski is one of an incredible seven AFL/W footballers from the 3000-strong town of Halls Creek, around 500km inland from Broome, including cousins Sam Petrevski-Seton and Toby Bedford.
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She started boarding at William Clarke College in Sydney at just 11 years old after receiving a scholarship before finishing her schooling in Melbourne, meaning she has plenty of life experience to pass on.
"I'd never met the [Woomeras] girls before, so from that first session, you're teaching them what you know, your knowledge and your experience, and you watch them interpret it and then you actually watch them go out and display it and grow," Petrevski said.
"That's honestly amazing to even think that me as a person is impacting them, not only on the field but off the field. It's crazy to think that the kids actually listened to me, I'm typically a kid myself so that actually freaks me out.
"It's not only me teaching them, but what they teach you is gold. You have to work out what's the best way for them to gain information, you have to put yourselves in other people's shoes. And that's honestly the best way to learn it yourself, seeing it from their perspective."
Petrevski is currently in the final stages of rehabbing a twice-torn hamstring, initially injured in round two against Richmond before re-tearing it during rehab.
She has had a rehab buddy in fellow hamstrung Dee Sinead Goldrick, right down to having their surgeries literally one after the other on the same day.
"I have three weeks left, but I'll push it out to four just to be safe. Then I want to try and get home after I finish rehabbing, so then I don't have to worry doing it while I'm at home," she said.
"It's a big injury and it's only my second year, so I want to get it right."
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What would the young Krstel who first entered the Woomeras program think of what she's doing now?
"She would be very, very, very proud of, of the person I've become, and obviously the person I'm still becoming, because I'm still young.
"To get all this experience at a young age is something that's very lucky, because a lot of people don't get that really early, and then they spend a lot of time still trying to find it.
"It's something that's very powerful and I think that is really exciting because I can still relate to these kids on a different level. They come tell me stories and I can make TikToks and things like that.
"It also relates to my family. I'm very close to my mum and dad, and they're still pretty young, so I'm now getting to experience [interacting with younger people] in the way they do."
