IN THE space of six years, Sarah Lampard went from tagging Daisy Pearce in the VFLW to winning an AFLW flag alongside the Hall of Famer.

As a 12-year-old, long before a national elite women's football competition was even close to being a reality, Lampard was telling her grade six classmates that she was going to play professional footy one day. And little did they know, she was right.

A sojourn into basketball while footy was inaccessible to women during her teens was required, before joining the VU Western Spurs for the 2016 season. She was playing alongside the likes of Shelley Scott, Ainslie Kemp, and Ashleigh Guest, and coached by the club's founder Debbie Lee.

Lee then became foundation club Melbourne's head of women's footy, and was a crucial voice in the side's list build strategy.

"I had just started playing football that year, so I didn't really think I'd get picked up," Lampard said on The Inaugurals.

"Debbie Lee was my coach, and I think by the time I got drafted she'd picked I want to say like six Spurs, and I was like 'There's no chance'."

Alyssa Mifsud was snapped up with pick No.40, Scott at 41 and Kemp at 88, and by pick 134 the Demons had drafted 16 players to join marquees Pearce and Melissa Hickey, priority player Paxy Paxman, and rookies Cat Phillips and Harriet Cordner.

Pick No.134 was for Lampard.

Now, Pearce was her teammate, a far cry from her experience earlier that year going head-to-head with the star.

"I remember one of the VFL games that year, the Spurs had played Darebin and they were a powerhouse that year, and Debbie Lee had me tag Daisy. I was so scared," Lampard laughed.

"I had Paxy and Mel Hickey coming up to me and trying to bump me off Daisy, and back when I was 19, I'm stronger now, but I was like a noodle back then and Mel Hickey is quite a strong person, but just coming up and just taking me out.

"I was like 'I'm so scared. I respect all of you, but respectfully leave me alone.' But it was really cool to then fall into an environment where I had such strong leaders. I'd put Elise O'Dea into that bracket as well, such strong leaders that set such a high standard from the get-go."

It was their strong leadership and culture building that Lampard most enjoyed once part of the Melbourne system, and something they collectively leaned on when the club came agonisingly close to a finals spot but missed out in each of the first three seasons.

In 2017 and 2018, just the top two sides progressed to a Grand Final. Melbourne finished third in season one, equal on points but 16 per cent behind eventual premier Adelaide in second, and in season two it was again third, equal on points with Brisbane, but trailing by 11 per cent.

The 2018 campaign was especially tough for Lampard, who suffered a serious hamstring injury during the pre-season, keeping her off the park until a do-or-die round seven game against the Western Bulldogs. The equation was simple: win and you qualify for a Grand Final, lose and you're done.

"I had a pretty bad hamstring injury and just avoided having surgery on that, but I was pretty set on getting back … I was just kind of like, 'Hell yeah, put me back in'. I don't know if it was just me being naive in my second year, but I was like yeah, put me back in," Lampard said.

"I was out on the far wing at one point and then went up for an aerial contest, landed awkwardly and someone landed on the back of my leg and just stuffed my knee. Did, like, everything you could think of and (I) knew it straight away."

With just five minutes of game time in 2018, Lampard had done her ACL and was staring down the barrel of a long rehabilitation. Determined and focused on ticking off milestones, however, she was back for round one the following season.

By 2019, conferences had been introduced to the AFLW and four teams would qualify for the first finals series. Although on a combined ladder Melbourne finished fourth, it was ultimately the top two sides from each conference that qualified. That meant heartbreak for the Demons again.

"It was tricky at the time because (there) was very little room for error. For instance, if we take the first season, we lost our first game and it was kind of like 'OK, well, we've got to kind of be perfect for the rest of the season', and then couldn't make the Grand Final from then onwards because we lost a second game," Lampard said.

"But it was a little bit frustrating that we kept getting close and then couldn't prove ourselves during finals."

And after getting so close so often, Melbourne finally reached finals in 2020 as the home and away season was cut short and one week of semi-finals was fast-tracked due to COVID. Melbourne played Greater Western Sydney and after an early challenge, won through to a preliminary final. A preliminary final that would never take place.

But Lampard wouldn't play in those games. Instead, she was at home nursing her second ACL injury suffered in round six against Carlton.

"I kind of got bumped off a ground ball and (my) knee went inwards. But compared to my first one, it was just like a straight ACL, so I was kind of like 'I think I'm going to be OK to try and get back out on the ground'," Lampard said.

"It was a bit of a dampener because we'd gotten so close to making finals in the early years, and then I was like 'All right, we've made finals, we've scraped through our first final, and we're onto a prelim', which is a really exciting time. Then I literally remember being at training and the girls were still in Sydney and then we got a message saying the season had been cancelled."

Amid the chaos, Lampard snuck in for her reconstruction surgery before hospitals went into overdrive for the pandemic, and returned home into lockdowns with a full rehabilitation program to contend with.

Instead of descending into the mire when it came to her mental health, she committed to getting her body right for when footy returned, but found some extra motivation along the way.

"I was on JobKeeper at the time, so I was getting paid for that and then I was kind of like 'All right, I'm just going to rehab my knee, be an athlete over lockdown'," Lampard explained.

"But I kind of wanted to shift my focus from my first knee. In my first ACL rehab I was very motivated by ticking off the milestones. I was just motivated by that and getting back to play, but this time I was like I was already trying to achieve these goals, like that wasn't long ago.

"I was like, I'm going to shift focus and try and become a better footballer. So, I took up Olympic lifting, which was actually a lot of fun, but I was getting a lot of strength gains through that … I was doing that and then instead of just doing my regular rehab running I was like, 'How can I incorporate positional stuff or things that would make me better as a footballer as well?'"

Another thing to help that rehab process was Lampard's life away from footy. She was studying anatomy at the time of that second knee injury, which helped her understand the mechanics of the problem.

"I remember walking into class with my knee brace on and we had cadavers out. So, we had a limb and I remember just testing it, seeing where the ACL was, and I was like 'All right, that's what I've done, that's what I don't have anymore'," Lampard laughed.

"But it did give me a good understanding of my knee and my anatomy and that kind of stuff."

Prior to her injuries, Lampard was interested in pursuing a career as a physiotherapist outside of footy, but her experience with injury and the rehabilitation involved shifted her focus. Instead, helping players prevent injury became her interest point.

She graduated with a science degree, then headed back to university to study public health "with the intent of reducing injuries or disease or illnesses", completing the degree in 2024. Lampard then worked as part of an injury prevention in footy research project alongside former teammate Brooke Patterson. Now, it's onto a PhD.

"Don't know what I was thinking, but Brooke is my supervisor so I've kind of followed along her footsteps because she's doing awesome stuff in the space," Lampard said.

"I'm very passionate about football and very passionate about injury prevention, and now I've got my background in public health as well."

Her first game back, in round three 2021 against North Melbourne, was a strange one. Lockdowns and quarantines were still ebbing and flowing around the country, and so for the first ever night match at Casey Fields, no crowd was able to attend.

With dramatic momentum shifts and individual stars coming to the fore, Lampard's Demons broke through for a dramatic nine-point win.

"It was a really strange dynamic and I was like, this is so bizarre. It kind of feels like just a practice match. But it was a bit, from my memory, for the next one or two years a bit on and off like that. A bit of a strange dynamic and it was ever-changing and logistically very challenging," Lampard said.

"I remember coming to the club early, and before we'd get into the club, do a COVID test and it was just like 'This is so annoying', but it's just what we had to do. And we were in a very fortunate position that we were still actually able to go to work and train and play during this time, whereas I feel like there were still lockdowns at that point."

During that ever-changing 2022 (S6) campaign, Melbourne enjoyed its deepest finals run yet, qualifying for the Grand Final. But ultimate success wasn't to be.

"We were building, that being said, when we got to the Grand Final it still felt like at this point, Adelaide would bully us when we'd play them, because they're like a big sister or something. Every time we'd play them, they'd just beat us up a bit," Lampard said.

"But then we got to the Grand Final and we tried really hard, we tried our best, but methodically we probably weren't there. Maybe against a lesser side and less pressure we would have executed our method, but what we brought that day just wasn't good enough to beat Adelaide."

Redemption, however, wasn't far away. The next season was brought forward and kicked off in August of that same year, meaning the Demons could quickly adjust and go again. Round one was an away trip to face the Crows, and immediate reward was granted.

"That was a huge game for us, because right off the bat it just felt different. We were in control where we hadn't had that previously," Lampard said.

"It always felt like they were bigger and stronger than us, but when we played them round one that year, it really felt like we were in control, and they were on the back foot. So that was an awesome way to start our season."

That start to the season foreshadowed the eventual result: Melbourne's maiden AFLW premiership.

"I remember one of our younger players at the time Maeve (Chaplin) started manifesting that she could see Daisy and Mick (Stinear, head coach) holding up the cup. And to be fair, it worked, she manifested well," Lampard said.

It was a far cry from Lampard and fellow inaugural Demon Lauren Pearce doing a 12-week training camp pre-AFLW to improve their skills alongside a host of strong VFLW players vying for a place in the coming League.

"We were just the add ons that played a different sport, and they were trying to teach us how to play footy, get us across (from basketball). So me and 'Lozzy', at this point we did a couple of training sessions at Ikon Park, and we weren't actually allowed on Ikon Park," Lampard laughed.

"There were a few of us, the duds, out on the park outside and we were getting taught to kick properly. So, eventually we graduated from out on the park to Ikon Park. But we were laughing, like probably between the two of us we would have outlasted most of the players that were on Ikon Park."