Reflecting on the Kangaroos being fixtured three home and four away matches – with two of the home games in Tasmania and one at Chirnside Park, Kearney has a light-hearted response .

"I think the AFL have given us a bit of a clip for recruiting so well."

Despite signing for the club last April, a 56-34 pre-season win against the Demons on Saturday was Kearney's first chance to play in the Kangaroos guernsey.

Having made the switch from the Bulldogs, she'll come up against herformer team in round three at the University of Tasmania Stadium.

She confirmed "that's the one that's marked in my diary" and immediately identified the Bulldogs as North's greatest competition this year.

"I think there's a few at that club that aren't overly impressed by North, so that'll be a fiery, emotional match. Which I can't wait for, because those sorts of heated battles spur me on even more," she says.

The Kangaroos' connection to Melbourne University - their VFL side, which Kearney once captained, trains at Arden Street, while coach Scott Gowans mentored Kearney at Melbourne University - instantly made the club "the perfect fit" for Kearney when their licence was approved last year. Needless to say, she didn't make her feelings immediately known to the Bulldogs.

"I remember speaking to someone at North when they missed out on a licence [in 2016]. I said when North do get a licence, I'll come play for them," she explains.

"I was really happy at the Bulldogs, they were great, but North was where I felt like it was my home. [But] I kept it to myself, most of the girls didn't know."

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Having represented the Melbourne Stars from 2015 until last year, Kearney made the decision to step back from cricket this summer in favour of a full pre-season.

"I wasn't enjoying it anymore, I didn't want to continue on for that extra year and be hating it ... Everyone knew I preferred footy, and it certainly came more naturally to me. I just didn't have the time or energy to put in those extra hours anymore."

The frightening result for opponents is that Kearney – already coming off her best and fairest and All-Australian season – is "the fittest I've been for a while".

"I'd roll into Bulldogs training [last year] after an interstate trip thinking 'I just want this to be over, I want to go to bed'. But now I'm coming to training feeling fresh," she says.

Together with the Kangaroos, the addition of Geelong makes a 10-team league that has been split into two conferences, with each team playing seven games: four against their conference rivals, plus three "crossover" matches.

Kearney is sceptical about the AFL's decision that each team won't play each other once.

"They were the ones that introduced expansion, so I think they've got to own that ... if you asked every AFLW player, they'd want to be playing every team once," she says.

"If we keep having a seven-game season, girls that come from different sports will think, 'you know what? I’m actually going to stick with my basketball, or my netball,' and not do footy. It's a big commitment for only a small competition."