GEMMA Houghton used to be a basketballer who played footy. But not anymore.

Now, she is a two-time All-Australian, a four-time club leading goalkicker, and universally loved by fans.

It was Ebony Antonio who got her interested, after a quick text to Houghton's brother, Joel, got her down to a talent identification day that Fremantle was holding ahead of the first AFLW season.

"My brother went to school with Ebony Antonio," Houghton said on The Inaugurals.

"Which that in itself still blows my mind that I'm such good friends with her now, was really lucky to be in her bridal party, and now she's sitting out this year having a baby. Awesome memories with 'Epps', and she just messaged my brother and said, 'Would Gem ever be interested in playing footy?'"

At the time Houghton was playing state basketball, now the NBL1, and her brother Joel was back playing state league after a two-year stint at the Dockers in 2010 and 2011. Athletic and a lover of footy, she decided to head down to the talent day to see what it was about.

"I can still remember it so, so vividly and so clearly. We went down to a local school in Perth, Michelle Cowan was the inaugural coach of Fremantle at that stage. It was all so new to me," Houghton said.

"Football was, in terms of me growing up and watching it and me playing in the park with my brother, it was not foreign, but in terms of being involved in a playing sense, (that) was very different … They put you through the testing, which was probably the first ever testing I'd done in a talent search ID, so that was new.

"It was your 20m sprint, your vertical (jump), your agility and whatnot, and I think that's probably what caught their attention. I'll be honest with you, I couldn't kick."

That athletic ability was enough for Cowan and the Dockers, who added Houghton as a free agent for the 2017 AFLW season.

"All the media and stuff was 'Joel Houghton's sister, Gemma' and I think now it's "Gemma Houghton, Joel's sister'. The roles have changed a bit," Houghton said.

It was an opportunity for something fresh. And that first season offered Houghton just that. She played every game that season as a forward while also playing through the ruck.

"I loved running, and I loved jumping and in basketball I got fouled out a bit. So, I think the idea of playing a sport when I felt free and it reminded me of my childhood, I guess in that aspect (I) just wanted to try something new. And I've always loved the game, I just didn't really know there were pathways to play it," Houghton explained.

After those seven games in 2017 – the first seven games she had ever played at any level – the Dockers sent her to the WA state league (WAFLW) to get some more footy into her legs over the extended off-season. Unfortunately, while playing for Swan Districts Houghton picked up a stress fracture in her shin, leaving her in a moon boot and struggling to find ways to keep up her fitness.

It meant just two games the next AFLW season, playing less than 50 per cent of game time in each.

"That was probably a very challenging time in my career because I was young and so raw to not only football, but I guess being in a professional environment and understanding what it takes to be at that level," Houghton admitted.

"I spent that year, the second year (out of the team), because of where I'd put myself physically."

At the end of the season, Houghton walked out of the club without a contract for 2019. Driving out, delisted and a little bereft, there were two options ahead of her. Luckily for fans, the feeling that she had been part of something bigger than herself – the movement that was AFLW – led her toward doing everything to get back on the list.

"I don't know how much of this I'm actually allowed to say, but that year when we had out exit meeting, and the truth is I was actually delisted by the club," Houghton said.

"I was driving out of the headquarters of Fremantle, and I remember just thinking 'What do I want to do? Do I go back to basketball?' … I just remember thinking, 'I've loved this experience, I've loved the way I've felt, and just being a part of this club'.

"I made a promise to myself that I was going to get fit and get back on a list."

She found a boxing coach, focused on her nutrition, got fit, and caught the attention of the Dockers who re-listed her.

"I could have literally just driven away and gone 'That's it, I've been delisted, I don't know what my future holds' and a lot of doubt can play into it. But I made a decision that I wanted to be here, what do I need to do to get myself better?" Houghton said.

That choice propelled Houghton to back-to-back All-Australian seasons under new coach Trent Cooper, somewhat mirroring Fremantle's fortunes as a whole. The club qualified for finals in 2019, and ticked off some important milestones along the way including its first win outside of Western Australia, and three consecutive wins.

"Trying not to define yourself based on other peoples' opinions and what you read out there, and just stick to what you know we have within the four walls is what Trent Cooper did really well in terms of believing in us and putting it on a whiteboard," Houghton said.

"And that gave us a real drive, and it was (also) the satisfaction of being told you've never won an away game and ticking it off … that's what drove us that year to doing things we'd never done."

There were personal goals that Houghton wanted to tick off along the way. Clearing her mindset and ticking off goals. Finishing in the top three in her club's leading goalkicking tally was one, which she has now achieved four times. Becoming an All-Australian wasn't on the list, but that's something she's nailed as well.

One that she's still keen to cross off the list is to take Mark of the Year – something her teammate Matilda Scholz achieved last year.

"I'd sat down with my manager, and we had gone through some goal setting and some mindset stuff, and I think that gave me a clear vision of what I wanted to try and achieve," Houghton said.

"And then, going back and looking at those goals that I'd set and ticking them off, it's so weird when you put your mind to something, how you can really visualise and achieve it."

A curveball was thrown the League's way in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ending the AFLW season, leaving a forever asterisk on what could have been, and no premier. Fremantle was undefeated at the time, with seven wins from seven starts, and the assumed favourite should there have been a Grand Final played.

But it wasn't to be, instead the season finished with a sense of dissatisfaction.

"It was uncertain times and I'll never forget when we were in our meeting room with 'Coops' that year and he just said, 'I know you'll never have that stat of your year, and the uncertainty of what could have been, but I'll forever be proud of this group'," Houghton said.

"It brought tears to a lot of girls in the room that day because I think we knew, especially those girls in that year, that's probably the best we've ever played as a team, and there's nothing in terms of things to show for it. But I think (the) girls will always carry with them that they were part of that team. It was just an awesome ride."

The following year another significant challenge presented itself for Houghton, with a close friend passing away in July 2021. It made the routine of showing up to the club for training and the ability to focus her mind on games particularly difficult, which resulted in a slight downturn in form in 2022 (S6), and the eventual decision to move states later that year.

"I remember just being at the club and there were just some really tough times. A lot of people, I guess, didn't understand outside, and not that they needed to, but for me it was a really big change in my life and quite traumatic and going through that," Houghton said.

"I can't change anything, and I love the journey I'm on now and where I'm at, but I guess from an outside point of view, I wasn't really at training, I wasn't really in games, and I felt really disconnected. Grief does that to people when you lose someone really close to you, whether you're a professional sports player or someone who works at a local shop, when you lose someone who means so much to you, it is a journey that you have to discover on your own in terms of grief."

Houghton's mother was crucial in her ability to survive that tough period, but ultimately the decision to move to South Australia and join expansion side Port Adelaide was an important one in her grief journey.

"I knew I needed a change. He lived quite close to where I lived, and was near the club as well, so it was a constant reminder for me," Houghton explained.

"That's where, I guess, the move initiated from … everyone deals with grief differently, but for me to find that passion and spark again. I knew I needed change and just being patient with myself, understanding that something like that, when you lose someone so close, and understanding to be patient with yourself, to be kind to yourself, and trust that you know you will get through those harder days."

The addition of Port Adelaide, while coming at the right time for Houghton personally, was always going to raise some questions for the star forward. Growing up a Power fan, joining the club was always a thought in the back of her mind.

"I remember saying to a few of the girls, if Port Adelaide came into the comp, I'd join their team. And this was when I was at Freo, so they're probably thinking it was always my plan, but it wasn't," Houghton said.

And being a mentor to younger players, particularly younger Indigenous players, has always been innate in Houghton's personality.

As a child she watched the feats of Cathy Freeman with awe, and now she is that person to so many younger people across the country. Although she refuses to consider herself alongside Freeman in terms of impact.

"You often still get taken aback when anyone approaches you or notices you with football, and to know that there's young Indigenous girls that look up to me and say, 'One day I want to play like you'," Houghton said.

"I don't know, it might be something I probably don't really understand the depth of until I retire, but knowing that there's young girls following in that footstep, just that they have an opportunity and a chance to live a life that I've lived is incredible."

Gemma Houghton is one of The Inaugurals.