Cork AFLW player Erika O’Shea knows that there will be a time when playing two codes will not be feasible, but for now she is just enjoying the ability to represent both the Rebels and North Melbourne.
The affable O’Shea was laid back when it was put to her that with 32 GAA players now competing in the women’s game in Australia, it may become a bone of contention in the future.
"At the moment, they [the AFLW] are fighting for a longer season. A longer season will eventually turn into a full-time sport. That's something AFL players know but nobody knows when. It could be six years from now, it could be 10," O'Shea said at SuperValu's launch of the All-Ireland championships.
"I'm just taking every year as it comes. I want to do both sports that I love. Right now, I'm able to so I'll do that for as long as possible. When a time comes [to make a decision], I'll have to make one."
The flexibility currently extended to O’Shea does not come just from the Cork squad, which she re-joined on her return to Ireland in January, but also the North Melbourne club itself.
"I was actually very lucky with North Melbourne. They're a very accommodating team.
"Me and Vicki Wall discussed with the team that we would like to play football when we go home. They said they're happy for us to be dual athletes for as long as possible. They're very supportive of us. We said we were really grateful to be able to do what we love."
Having picked up an All-Star in 2021 at just 19 years of age, O’Shea was always going to be in the limelight – and it was no surprise when the Kangaroos came calling.
O’Shea played 10 times in a fine debut season, but admitted that it was a difficult adjustment both on and off the pitch.
"It's a very sporty city. I'm lucky to be in Melbourne and not somewhere else because the heat would have killed me somewhere else. To be honest, it was a very lonely experience as well. I had the best time, and made really good friends out there but it's just going over and not knowing anyone, and being so young as well.
"I had my first birthday abroad. I was 19 when I went over. That was hard out there. You can walk past a million people in a day, and you wouldn't know anyone. That's hard. It did mature me in ways, and I definitely grew as a player from going out there. I was able to be more independent."
"You can walk past a million people in a day, and you wouldn't know anyone. That's hard."
On the pitch itself, O’Shea has had to battle her defensive instincts when dealing with rushed behinds – the concession of a point when under pressure to prevent a possible six points being given up.
"There's one thing that really confused me as a defender. It was that the goals would be behind you but it's better if you tap it through the goals because it's only a point. In Gaelic, you're like, 'no goals' and they're trying to teach me how to tap it in to just give a point instead of six.
"If you're a defender, you have to stand on the outside if the ball is coming on the left. They're making you stand on the wide side even though you should be goal-side all the time.
"The physicality is one that everyone mentions. It's something you don't get used to, but you know what's coming. Everything else was ok. The endurance, it's just long distance. You can do it at a slow pace. It's not high pace like football."
O’Shea’s first season in Australia wasn’t without its challenges though and at one stage she feared for the sight in her left eye after a collision in a game with Richmond last October.
"It was an injury to my left eye. I got a blow to the eye. It caused an extreme Hyphema. My eyes filled with blood. They were so dark that you couldn't see the blood filling my eyes.
"The doctor called me off for a check. I was like, 'I'm not coming off'. She was like, 'can you see?' I was like 'I can't see but it'll come back in a second. It'll be fine. Leave me alone'. It's just the Irish in my telling me that I'm fine and I'm not coming off unless my eye is hanging off me.
"I got dragged off and was fighting the whole way. I came off and they said to me that I wasn't reacting to light. My eye, the pupil was blown and it wasn't reacting. It was starting to fill with blood, she said that she could see it.
"Then I got brought straight to hospital, and I said 'oh, this could be serious'. I'd never been brought to hospital before. I remember looking at Esther [Hassett], the player development officer, and I said 'am I going to be able to see again?' She said, 'yeah, you will' but I knew by her voice that she not certain.
"I was lucky that I had the support of the club. She called over loads of times with flowers and chocolate. That experience was scary.
"They said they didn't know when my vision would come back, if it would full come back. That was a lot to hear, being so young and alone in a different country."
O’Shea recovered though, a visit from her mother Maria helping that process, and the future is bright in the game.
For now though, full focus turns to Cork and the start of their Munster campaign against Tipperary on Sunday.
An air of uncertainty hangs over the championship this year with strong cases to be made for a number of teams.
Shane Ronayne’s Rebels are one of those. Their two league losses were narrow defeats to Dublin and Galway respectively while they were also comprehensive victors over eventual Division 1 champions Kerry.
"It's one of the most exciting ladies football campaigns that there has ever been. No one knows what's going to happen this year, and that brings an element of excitement to it," said O’Shea.
"We're going to get a lot more viewers this year because of that, hopefully. There's no one team you could say is going to win it. I think that's amazing to say."
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