Vikki Wall says her switch to rugby has been "tough" but the chance to represent Ireland was too good to turn down.
The Meath woman has two All-Ireland football medals to her name and played with North Melbourne in the AFLW during the 2022 season.
But last Christmas talks began with the Irish Rugby Football Union's high-performance director David Nucifora and the process of a second major shift in code began.
The union confirmed in September that the 25-year-old had been contracted as part of the Sevens programme and a return to football and Aussie Rules has been put on the back burner, for the time being.
Despite having no previous experience with rugby, Wall has set her sights on reaching international standard and earning her place in the squad for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
"It has been tough, a massive transition into a brand-new sport, one I wouldn't have had much exposure to growing up but no, it's been good," said the Dunboyne woman.
"I am really enjoying it and enjoying the challenges. But definitely, there are a lot of challenges.
"[The decision to join was made] over a few months, definitely.
"It wasn't something where I turned around one day and said, 'surprise, I'm not going back to Australia, I'm going to come here'.
"I was talking with people in Australia, talking with people around me and then going back to one or two people that I trust and then making a decision, and obviously now I'm here."
She got her first taste of real action two months ago when Ireland hosted Australia and France during a 10-day training camp in Blanchardstown.
"I got a rude awakening definitely in the first few minutes," she said.
"It was tough but it's good to get exposure to it.
"I think at the start, and even now still sometimes, I have to rein it in of doing too much thinking, if that makes sense in terms of thinking where I should be, where my next foot should be, if I'm in the ruck, if I'm reloading, whatever I'm doing.
"When I calmed it down and just focused on two or three things rather than trying to preempt everything that was going to happen in a game because you just can't do it, so I think definitely bring it down a few levels and stick to the basics.
"I definitely have a significant amount to learn on it.
"I suppose [the hardest thing to get used to is] the tackle technique in terms of coming from AFL last year, you are constantly trying to get a higher body tackle to get them to release the ball and get possession back whereas here you get given out to for those higher tackles and you can’t be doing them."
It’s a massive challenge but Wall admits that pulling on the green jersey, with the chance of going for gold was the clincher.
"First and foremost, I've been able to play for Ireland, that's an unbelievable opportunity," she said.
"Like, if you told me that when I was younger, I wouldn't have even foresaw being in rugby, if I'm being perfectly honest, it just wasn't something I saw in my future.
"And then obviously there is the Olympics at the end of the year and you're not going to lie to yourself, it's there.
"But there's so much to do before that and I'm not naive in knowing how far I am off that at the moment so I'm breaking it down into next day, next month, whatever it is, just setting myself small goals.
"I don't just have one outcome goal of making the squad in 2024, there's so much more I want to achieve within Sevens football...or Sevens Rugby."
Named in a 19-woman squad for the upcoming SVNS 2024 season yesterday, Wall knows she faces a huge challenge to break into a squad that already qualified for the Paris.
She’ll get her first taste of international action next month. Ireland will send a team to compete in the season-opener in Dubai as well as a development squad, which will take part in an invitational event at the same time.
She said: "Coming into a team that has already qualified for the Olympics, you definitely have to be conscious of that and then you also have to back yourself as well, so it's that kind of better of two evils.
"You can't walk in the door and be screaming and shouting, you also have to have some form of confidence from where I've come from previously."
Ireland Women's Sevens 2024 Squad
Kathy Baker, Claire Boles, Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Lucinda Kinghan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Emily Lane, Amy Larn, Kate Farrell McCabe, Anna McGann, Lucy Mulhall, Beibhinn Parsons, Aoibheann Reilly, Vikki Wall.
