ASHLEE Atkins had just played her second NAB AFL Women's match – in front of 41,975 people – and couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
The Fremantle forward, who kicked her first goal (and two behinds) in her team's 13-point win over Collingwood last Saturday, relished the wide-open spaces of the new Optus Stadium.
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"It's a beautiful ground … and to play in the first footy game there was amazing," Atkins said.
"In Western Australia, we like to run and really use the width of the ground and I think we did that. We really spread and wanted to make it hard for Collingwood to get their hands on the ball."
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The 24-year-old was selected from East Fremantle with pick No.26 in October's NAB AFL Women's Draft, but her footy journey has been far from smooth.
She kicked 43 goals in just 16 games in 2012 for the Sharks, but a knee reconstruction the following year saw her physical activity grind to a halt for nearly two years. Combined with her work as a FIFO (fly in, fly out) health and safety officer across Western Australia, she quickly started gaining weight.
Although her knee was fully healed and she was back playing in 2016, she wasn't selected by Fremantle in the first draft.
Watching on as East Fremantle teammates and WAWFL opponents played on the national stage fuelled her desire to be out there in the second season.
"Probably in the year-and-a-half to now, I've lost around 20kg," the 165cm Atkins said.
"I was back with a vengeance in our WAWFL season last year. Finally, [Fremantle coach] Michelle [Cowan] gave me a lifeline and a chance to perform."
Atkins has taken time off work to play in the AFLW, as the long stints required as a FIFO worker mean it's impossible to combine the two.
"I actually enjoy it. People are always like, 'Oh, a health and safety advisor, you're one of those,' but I actually really enjoy my job," she said.
"Helping people off the field and helping my teammates on the field, there's no difference, it goes hand in hand."
She'll go down in the record books as the first Fremantle player, male or female, to kick a goal at Optus Stadium after her effort in the first quarter, a 45m bomb after an intercept mark.
"I actually wasn't going for goal – I was trying to hit the hot spot. I normally can't kick that far but seemed to strike the footy quite well and it whirled its way in there," Atkins said.
"(It was a) bit of luck, but it's an amazing feeling to get my first goal in the purple and in front of the home crowd. They really got behind me, I couldn't hear anything.
"[The bench] were trying to call for a rotation so I had to cut my celebration short, but I really couldn't hear anything. It was amazing."
