THINK Saturday's match between Australia and Ireland is the first time the two nations have gone head to head in a women's footballing capacity?

Think again.

Twenty years ago, an Australian women's football team – containing the likes of Moana Hope, Meg Hutchins, Penny Cula-Reid, Lauren Tesoriero and a very young Daisy Pearce – travelled to Ireland to take on its national representative game in International Rules.

In that Irish team? None other than Cora Staunton.

It was a version of International Rules that leant heavily towards the Gaelic game, and the Australians were pumped in the first match in Cavan, 134-15.

The Aussies had a better idea of how to play the game by the second test, but the Irish still emerged 39-18 victors in Dublin.

Debbie Lee took an assistant coaching role as she recovered from a torn ACL, helping out senior coach Nicole Graves.

"This was 2006 (the AFLW started in 2017), so it was a pretty big vision, and it was all self-funded. We got a little bit of money here and there, but it was almost like a huge community experience in terms of fundraising," Lee said.

"It was just a bit of a discussion that turned into a bit of a pipeline that turned into a reality. So to get a whole team over there in 2006 with a bunch of athletes with minimal support was pretty amazing, and it was really visionary, to be honest.

"Nicky Graves was probably the main driver behind it. She had associations with the Gaelic Association in Victoria, and I was just like, "how do we actually build this out? It started like it did with most of the things in women's football in the early days – a conversation that gained momentum that then turned into, 'okay, let's try and do this'.

"At the time, we had our (senior) national championships, which without AFLW, was the pinnacle of women's football. An Australian team was picked at the carnival, and it was also who could afford to go, as well.

"It was it was like a community footy kind of trip essentially. It wasn't that flashy, but in terms of the experience and pulling on the Australian jumper, I think you never can beat that. We had characters, we had fun, we had nights out, all that stuff. It was brilliant."

Pearce had just turned 18 a few months earlier, and along with Hope and Cula-Reid were the youngest of the Australian squad

"It was pretty special and a massive honour to be able to get an Australian guernsey. It was a pretty big deal back then, when we didn't get to play a lot of representative footy, or have many big opportunities like that," Pearce said.

"It's amazing how far we've come, thinking back to it – you paid your own way, we got a jacket and a playing top, and that was about it. I think I sold a lot of Freddo Frogs to raise money.

"Our national carnivals at the time were five or six games of football played over a week, with one day break in there. We talk about five-day breaks now – we were backing up day after day, I was lucky I had youth on my side. Selection for the Australian team had to do with your performance at the carnival, and it was a huge honour.

"We got over there, and there wasn't a lot of media or awareness that we were there, but we did get to go to the Australian Embassy with the men's International Rules team who were there at the same time.

"It was a pretty awkward sort of day – they turned up in full Australian suits, and all we owned was pretty much a self-made polo someone had embroidered 'Australia' on. We were a bit out of place, but it was good to be there, and it was part of that era where you had awkward moments and realised things weren't equal, but you were serving a time that was putting women's footy on the map."

Staunton was a little older at 24, and said the Irish took a rare chance at national representation very seriously.

"It was very different, we were playing with the round ball, and we gave the Aussies a bit of a hammering. We had a number of camps, we were probably in camp for about six weekends training, and had trials to pick the team," Staunton said.

"It was a big thing, because the opportunity to represent the Irish was huge. We knew nothing about the Aussies at the time, knew nothing about AFL really, bar the few Irish boys who were over. It was a huge honour, I still have the two jerseys somewhere at home as well. It's great to see it back, 20 years later, even if it's in AFL form."

Staunton was the first Irishwoman to move directly out to Australia for the purpose of playing AFLW, drafted by Greater Western Sydney ahead of the 2018 season. 

From there, a trickle has become a flood, with around 45 Irish currently on the 18 club lists.

"At the time, I didn't realise the growth that would come. I quickly came to see after season two or three that there'd be huge growth. Obviously COVID stunted it with travel restrictions, but then the numbers really increased.

"There's a huge popularity at home, I get calls all the time from parents and young kids wondering how they can get out to play AFLW once they finish school. It's grown and grown, and the calibre of player who's coming out is huge – there were five (Irish) All-Australians last year, and girls winning premierships and having huge influences, some of the biggest names here are Irish. It's been brilliant. It's a bit surreal to be back, and a hint of jealousy that'd you'd like to be out there playing, but it's great it's happening."

Twenty years on, Lee and Staunton are serving as chairs of selection for Australia and Ireland's AFLW teams respectively, while Pearce will be a senior assistant coach for her country.

"You always move through life pretty quick, don't you? And you don't often stop and reflect. But I think the thing for me was, you know, having Dais named an assistant coach, and Cora as a selector – 20 years ago, we never even dreamed that this would happen. We didn't dream that the AFLW was going to happen. We never set out to do that," Lee said.

"It's only going to start another conversation and carry on this momentum, I think, for future years as well."