Darcy Guttridge finished last season out of St Kilda's preferred side, but less than 12 months later has signed a two-year contract extension till the end of 2026.
The unheralded Saints forward has kicked a career-high six goals this season, playing an important role as a linking player across half-forward.
But the nature of the position means a lot of the work – providing dummy leads, circling round to give room for the key forwards – goes unsighted in the mix of general play.
"Paddy Hill, our development coach, spoke to me about the role of high half-forward being either a feast or a famine," Guttridge told AFL.com.au.
"It can be a great day, or a quiet one, which is fine, and that's footy. But it's [reassuring] to know my role I can play my role regardless.
"The stuff you're doing away from the ball – creating space for Jesse Wardlaw – is just as important, and we look at that within our four walls as to what you're doing 20m away from the ball."
Guttridge was a top-10 pick back in 2017, coming into the AFLW as the under-18 All-Australian captain and a half-back flanker.
It's taken her some time to find her feet at the top level, initially stymied by a broken collarbone in her maiden season while playing for Collingwood.
Her off-season was one of growth, the 24-year-old settling on the best tailored techniques to utilise as an elite athlete.
"I don't know if it's just maybe getting older. I feel like I did a lot of work in the off-season, physically and mentally, to better myself," she said.
"I just took the time to try and get myself in the best physical state possible. I put a lot of work into what I was eating, what I was doing in terms of my aerobic capacity.
"I even played a few games in the VFLW, but I just wanted to make sure I came into pre-season day one in the best form, so the coaches saw I was serious about my future and really wanting to make the most of it."
Fiancee and teammate Bianca Jakobsson required a lighter running load over her own off-season, so the pair expanded their aerobic training.
"In our pre-season and season, everything is so structured, you get told what to do, where to be, all that stuff," Guttridge said.
"So I really appreciated the off-season for the ability to kind of explore, whether that was what time we'd train, how we'd train, and just being able to enjoy being active and healthy.
"I liked doing lots of long, slow runs, and I got into the pool more than I had previously. It was just the enjoyment of getting outside in the beautiful summer weather.
"It definitely helps having someone (Jakobsson) just as motivated as me to get things done."
St Kilda remain an outside chance of qualifying for its first AFLW finals series, needing to defeat the Western Bulldogs and Brisbane to be assured of a top-eight spot.
"Consistency has been a hard one, and we're well aware of where we are at, at this point of the season. We've had hard conversations as a group after last week (loss to Port Adelaide), and we're very much in control of our next eight quarters," Guttridge said.
"We need to tidy up on our offence in terms of being able to really punish teams on our way back, after we turn it over.
"I think we've really struggled to move the ball once we get it between the arcs. We've finally had a week where we've been able to get two solid trainings in, and have been focusing on that and making it as close to Saints footy as we can, which is that fun, free-flowing footy."
