WHEN Eden Zanker trains on Gosch's Paddock, she pays a little more attention to the turf than most footballers.

The Melbourne spearhead spent her summer working as a groundskeeper at the AAMI Park precinct, which includes the stadium and the grounds in the area, hosting Melbourne Demons (AFL/W), Melbourne Victory (A-League/W), Melbourne City (A-League/W, stadium only) and Melbourne Storm (NRL).

She's not the first professional sportsperson to also work as a groundskeeper, with Australian spin bowler Nathan Lyon famously plying his trade as a turf curator before his illustrious cricketing career kicked off.

Zanker, 25, has a plumbing background, and plenty of general know-how from her family farm in Natya, right on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, and 500km north-west of Melbourne.

The nearest town is Swan Hill (a 60km hike to get bread and milk), and the Zankers have got "a lot" of hectares, growing barley, wheat, canola and "a few thousand" Hereford beef cattle.

But as for the groundskeeper work, that came via her coach Mick Stinear, who mentioned there was an apprenticeship going at the Cranbourne Turf Club.

"Then I got the opportunity to work at AAMI Park, and that was just incredible. Obviously there are quite a few teams who go through there, they all play on different surfaces, and you have to maintain a whole heap of things," Zanker told AFL.com.au.

"It's pretty much just growing grass, making sure it looks good and no one gets hurt, really.

"I was full-time there, working 6am to 2.30pm. I definitely don't miss the early, cold mornings, sitting on a mower for three or so hours.

"There's a bit to handle, but the guys are amazing, and I couldn't thank them enough for making my job super fun and rewarding."

Zanker worked there over the AFLW off-season, or "pre-pre-season" as the players call it, but opted to give the work away during the pre-season proper as her football commitments increased.

It's a marked change from the early days of AFLW (Zanker started playing in 2018), which saw nearly all players work close to a full-time job on top of night training.

Only a handful of players at each club still have a day job, as the demographic has turned over, the training times have changed, and most importantly, AFLW wages have significantly increased.

"In our six-week pre-pre-season, I'd mow the lawn before the girls went out there (for optional training)," Zanker said.

"Funnily enough, the girls started to grow a little more fond of what I did, and asked more questions and started to become really curious about the turf management space. I was always asked questions and giving the girls feedback on how to do their lawn and things like that. It was a wholesome space to be a part of."

Zanker had a stellar 2023, finishing as equal-leading goalkicker in the AFLW alongside teammate Kate Hore.

But the Demons struggled last year, with injury hitting hard – Zanker herself missed three matches with a patella tendon issue – and that vital chemistry was missing as the squad turned over.

They managed to right the ship at the end of the season, but it was too late to squeeze into finals.

"I think I definitely play my best when I'm steady in the key forward role," she said reflecting on her 2024 campaign.

"Coming off leading goalkicker, I probably put a little bit of expectation on myself after that, so I had to bring myself back down to earth, do the small things and get all that back.

"I definitely had a bit of a cloud of expectation over me, really. I needed to get back to basics and make sure I was nailing those and doing the team thing.

"The injuries are one thing, but not the whole thing. Definitely having some fresh faces in there and creating that connection was something we needed to work on and do better at. We didn't have that connection piece, and we needed to be stronger in that space.

"At the end of the day, it was really good for those girls to put their hand up, show their leadership and get more game time. It was good to see some fresh faces out there, giving it a real hard crack, and we'll be held in good stead in the future."

After a convincing first-up win over the Western Bulldogs in round one, the Demons will face a sterner test against St Kilda on Saturday.