POPPY Scholz has been working on her ruck craft for years. Not because she wants to be a clone of her older sister Matilda, but because she is desperate to be the best, and most versatile, player she can for her team.

She's doing things her own way, creating her own name, breaking free of living in her sister's shadow.

"I think moving out of Adelaide definitely helped that a lot. I think if I ended up at an Adelaide club, especially in my first few seasons, I think it would have been so easy to put us together," Scholz told AFL.com.au.

"Obviously, I still get a lot of comments about comparing me with Matilda, which I know it's going to happen, we're sisters, but I think to be able to come to Carlton, be in a new state, get out of that bubble that Adelaide is… I feel like coming out of Adelaide definitely helped in forging my own path.

"So, to be able to have this part of our lives separate, I think we both really appreciate and enjoy because she's got her friends, and I've got that here at Carlton, and obviously we're still so close and talk about everything together. But I feel like it's been really helpful for our careers to not be playing together."

Last year, a shift from defence into a key forward role for Scholz took the AFLW by storm, and in round one this year, a sojourn in the ruck in the absence of recruit Lauren Bella did just the same.

In her first centre stoppage Scholz expertly stayed on the deck, effectively becoming a fourth midfielder, and won the clearance with ease. But that's not quite what was going through her head at the time.

"Accidentally. I did not mean for that," Scholz said with a laugh.

"I didn't realise how high the ball was getting thrown. I thought it was going to be thrown a bit higher, so I started too far back so I could get a run and jump at the ball. And I was also worried about crossing the line. So, yeah, I didn't go for it. I think people through that was a decision that I'd made before the ball went up. It was definitely not."

But she adapted, read the tap off her 2024 national academy teammate, now St Kilda tall Zoe Besanko, and won the footy.

Back in January 2024, before being drafted, Scholz spent the bulk of her first national academy training session working as a ruck, ironically with Besanko – a curious departure from her starring role as an intercept defender.

"I'm just trying out the ruck this year. I played a bit last year in the Nationals as our second ruck, but just played as a fourth midfielder, so hopefully I get a bit more ruck craft instead of just getting chucked in there and trying to figure it out for myself," Scholz said at the time.

"I used to hate playing ruck because Matilda played ruck and I wanted to be different to her, but now I'm actually kind of enjoying it. It's taught me a bit about how she plays, and she's obviously a pretty decent ruck."

But it took more than a year for Carlton coach Mathew Buck to pull the trigger and try Scholz in the role at the top level. Internally, the playing group thinks that a conversation on the club's podcast might have seeded the idea.

"Me and 'Bucky' did a podcast with Mimi (Hill), Word on the Hill, and I spoke about like if there was a position I wanted to play, it would be to be the third or fourth ruck, and I didn't know that I was going to ruck that weekend. And then he told me the next day," Scholz said.

"It's like 'Wow, I really manifested that into happening'."

Growing up together, Scholz and older sister Matilda often shared ruck duties through their teens, at school, at Glenelg, and for South Australia. But despite Matilda spending the week leading into the game in Melbourne, she wasn't overly forthcoming with ruck advice for her younger sister come round one.

"Whilst being at Carlton, I haven't really spoken to her about ruck stuff," Scholz said.

"I tried to get some information out of her about how to ruck before the game on Sunday, but she didn't really give me much. I think even just watching how she plays, I feel like I've learned so much from that… But I think she was just giving me confidence, saying like 'You know what to do Poppy, you can just go and do it, you don't need to overthink it'."

Rather than being competitive with Matilda, however, Scholz is competitive with herself. It has seen her tap into the resources at Carlton over her first two preseasons, always wanting to better herself.

"I think our strength and conditioning team is so good at what they do, like I haven't done anything different to what they've given me. I've just done the program, but I'm also so competitive with myself," Scholz admitted.

"Like, just trying to beat what I lifted last week."