After a life of playing netball so intuitively that her name is respected throughout Geelong and beyond, Renee Garing relates her football development to the PE lessons she’s been imparting on her students at Christian College.

“We’re talking about learning skills and the different stages of learning at school now, and I use myself as an example with footy,” Garing says. “I’ve gone from the cognitive stage to the associative stage, where you still make errors but you can feel where you’ve gone wrong. I’m still in that stage – it’s definitely not autonomous, not second nature like netball is – but I’ve come a long way.”

At a trial day at Deakin in late 2016 she remembers asking, “How do you kick and run at the same time?” By the end of her first VFLW season last year she was loving the game and her ever-improving performance so much that the thought of an off-season was hard to bear.

Growing up she loved the one day at school each year when the girls got to play footy, but her sporting life was entwined in a striking progression along netball’s pathway that led to the Geelong Cougars in the VNL. She spent six years at St Mary’s, the last two as playing-coach.

Sometimes, after games, she’d wander across and watch the second half of the St Mary’s football, but admits she’s always been a better player than spectator. At the annual girls football schools competition four years ago she recalls a speaker saying, “AFL is going to take off for women soon.” The idea appealed, but “netball was easy, a safe bubble”.

That Deakin trial began as little more than a Geelong fan scratching an inquisitive itch, but prompted a career switch that’s led to a coveted spot as a pioneering AFLW player. “I’m 29 now. I was at that point where, ‘I’m happy with netball.’ Family was the next thing to think about, then football came along and I couldn’t not have a go.”

Now she watches footy religiously with husband Tony “through a whole new lens”, learning, questioning, putting it in to practice in their kick-to-kick sessions. “I think he’s pretty excited – he’d rather come and watch me play footy than netball,” Garing says. “He’s like another coach at home – he didn’t understand netball enough to give me feedback, but he does with footy.”

She likes being part of a big squad; netball clubs boast many players filtered into teams throughout the grades, whereas the culture in football feels more all-in. “The girls themselves, it’s a different world, women’s footy. There’s just something about it, I love it.”

She misses long-time netball friends and playing without having to think as much as she does in football. But she loves the running, the freedom, the different roles the game demands. “Footy’s got so much to be challenged by.”

Garing hopes to bring the sort of leadership that transcends all sports, a work ethic, energy and encouragement. Her skills might be a work in progress, but her commitment to every contest is fully formed.

“I’ll definitely have a crack, I don’t pull out. I ended up on the ground a lot in netball. That doesn’t hurt as much in footy.”