It's the middle of the Irish winter and Blaithin Bogue is kicking a Sherrin into a trailer.

Kick, and retrieve. Kick, and retrieve. The trailer is parked in the driveway of her family's farm, in the tiny rural village of Tempo. 

"There was no one around to practice with, so I had to kick it into something," Bogue says.

Nail the drop punt and she takes two steps back. Miss, and she kicks again until she makes it.

That winter, back in Ireland after her first season in the AFLW, was a crossroads time for Bogue, who nearly 12 months on has become an unlikely AFLW star.

Recruited in March 2024 to fill the last spot on North Melbourne's list, she only joined the squad two weeks before that year's season. The Kangaroos had a strong team on their way to a first AFLW premiership, and their injury list stayed short, limiting selection opportunities. Ultimately Bogue failed to play a game.

Though teammates and club staff had been encouraging and her skills were developing, she wasn't sure if uprooting her life had been the right call.

"I definitely questioned myself a lot," she tells NMFC Media.

"There were times in the first season when I felt like I didn't have much purpose out here, and it was quite hard for me mentally.

"At one point, my (Gaelic) club back home had just won the intermediate championship. I watched them celebrating and I thought, I could be back home with them and I'm out here, not really getting anywhere.

"I probably only would admit that now, because at the time I didn't want to admit that I was struggling a bit."

Six months on from those driveway kicking sessions, the Kangaroos played a pre-season practice match against the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval. On a wet and windy Friday night, Bogue had limited chances to impress. She marked on a lead. She ran onto a loose ball to toe-poke a scrappy goal. Her running shot after receiving a Mia King handball hooked left from 35m.

They were only glimpses, but they showed her burst, her agility, her game awareness. And that her kicking technique was steadily improving.

The following weekend, in another practice game against Essendon, she kicked three goals. Her first was a poacher's goal. Her second, a cleanly struck set shot. Her third left defenders trailing in her wake as she sprinted into a vacant goalsquare. It was enough to earn her a surprise debut for the Kangaroos' season opener against Geelong.

Fast forward another four months, and it's slightly surreal to list Bogue's AFLW achievements.

Since her debut, she has played all 14 possible games, becoming an automatic selection in a star-packed North Melbourne forward line. She has kicked a goal in every game she has played. No player in the competition has kicked more than her 25 goals this season, matched only by Port Adelaide's Indy Tahau.

Without her game-high three goals in the preliminary final thriller against Melbourne, the Roos would not be in another Grand Final. On Monday night she added a northern Irish flavour to the All-Australian team, named on the interchange bench.

Bogue credits her teammates and coaches with encouraging her to return for a second AFLW season and give the game her best shot.

Known affectionately as 'Bla Bla' around the club, she shares a house with teammates Ella Slocombe and fellow Irishwoman Amy Gavin Mangan, who have been "brilliant", she says.

"It's so nice living with Amy and Ella, and having the other Irish players around like Vikki (Wall) and Erika (O'Shea). That's like a bit of home."

On the field, former skipper Emma Kearney and veteran forward Kate Shierlaw have been influential. In pre-season, Shierlaw would come into the club on her day off to work with Bogue on her game.

"She and 'Kearns' have put so much work into me," Bogue says. 

"Even now, they're both always pulling me in and telling me things I can do better.

"During games, 'Shierls' and I have a joke that if she's not shouting at me, I'm annoyed, because I need her to tell me where to be."

Family, too, have been important. Bogue is the fourth of five kids. When she made her debut all her siblings sent messages, with older brother Tiernan contributing a memorable rendition of the club song.

She remains close with her younger sister Cadhla ("she can run all day", Bogue says), who starred alongside her as they won an All-Ireland junior championship with Fermanagh before Bogue joined the Roos.

Her older sister Rois-Eireann, who has autism, visited along with Bogue's parents earlier this season, watching her kick three goals in a win over Saturday's Grand Final opponent Brisbane.

"It was so special to have them be able to come out and see me," Bogue says. 

If anyone was directly responsible for those long solo sessions punting the ball into a trailer, it was North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker. He was insistent from the beginning that Bogue work on her kicking technique. 

"I'm always banging down Crock's door," she says.

"The ball drop is something he really wanted me to get right. If he caught me doing it not quite spot on, he'd call me over and make me work on it until I finally cracked it.

"It's made such a difference. Last year, when we were doing set shots at training, I always would have been swinging around the corner, going into the snap. But I'm confident now to line it up and kick the drop punt.

"In hindsight, I do think it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't get any games at all last year. 

"It made me work harder.

"I was very determined to come back out this year and make the most of the opportunity."