But then again, if not for the issues that led her to move out of home, she wouldn't have been taken by Collingwood last Wednesday in the second round of the AFLW draft.

Ross, 18, is viewed by Pies women's football boss Mathew James as a rare talent. On her showing at the national championships earlier this year, James said of the left-foot rebounding defender: "We saw someone with an ability to read the play like I hadn't seen before in an under-18 player."

That wasn't the plan however, for Ross, whose upbringing in Albury-Wodonga didn't involve the Sherrin. Rather, it was in motorcycle racing that she was a prodigy. She started as a nine-year-old, racing on dirt bikes before advancing to road racing. She was good enough to win multiple Australian titles as a junior.

Things don't always work out as planned though. "I had issues with my step-mum," she explains. "I didn't know what else to do so I moved out of home ... I needed to put [racing] aside."

There remains a sense of loss. "It was definitely was a passion," she says. "It was my goal to become an elite rider, and I look at kids now that I was racing against that are over at world championships, and I look back at think, 'that could have been me'."

But disarmingly relaxed and understanding, Ross keeps perspective. "There's always kids with far worse situations," she says.

Her dad and step-mum are in Port Macquarie these days, and their absence hasn't stopped Iilish from making it. She took up footy as a bit of fun, but soon starred with the Wodonga Raiders, under the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Tim Madden, who had worked with Ross during her racing days too.

"Tim and his family has helped me out heaps. I couldn't have done it without him," she says.

Helped in more ways than one. Last year, she left school to work, and was about to walk away from footy. But with his encouragement, she went back to school, and kept training.

Madden suggests credit must go to Ross, whose nickname "Snoop" owes to her curious nature as a child. "I always say to other athletes she's a great example because she's one of those ones you never have to ask where she is, it's almost 'back off, you don't have to train today.' Which is probably a bit unique for girls that age with other things going on," he says.

Ross is willing to hurt, regardless of the sport. Her list of injuries in motorcycling is extensive, but a broken neck suffered in the 2014 Victorian championships takes the cake.

Then there was her experience driving back from a TAC Cup game earlier this year, when Madden received a surprise when he turned his head around to the back seat.

Ross had run herself to exhaustion that day but was too shy to say anything. "I got a bit of hit, just a head clash in one of the quarters, and I didn't really think anything of it. I had a headache and started feeling sick, but didn't really want to tell anyone," she says.

"So next minute, I had my hands over my mouth, vomiting. Tim looked in the back and thought I was sneezing. He's like 'are you right?' and I was just shaking my head."

Madden takes up the story: "So we pulled over on the Hume Highway for her to jump out."

"He opened the door and next minute I was vomiting," Ross recalls.

Madden was by her side on Wednesday too, with both player and mentor beaming after Ross' name was called out by the Pies. Then it was back to Murray High School for HSC exams, including one the day after the draft, before Ross returns to Melbourne for pre-season in November.

Things have worked out. "I couldn't have asked for anything better than to be playing AFLW," she says.

Oh, and we must ask, her name, Iilish? "I don't really know. My parents liked it I guess. It's a bit weird," she says.

Not that anything so trivial would concern the Pies. "She's got great speed, she's willing to back herself," James says. "She's just a genuine, great girl. She's got great character, really good upbringing."