IF there is one Carlton player ticking off the days until the AFLW showdown with Melbourne at Traeger Park it is Alice Springs-born Gabriella Pound.

The Round 6 clash on March 14 next year will mark the first time in nearly two decades since Pound has been back to her hometown.

The defender was rapt when she found out that her team was slated to play a game in the Red Centre.

“I was stoked,” Pound said. “I saw there were a few games there and I thought, ‘Geez, I wish I was playing against Melbourne in Alice Springs’, because I’ve really wanted to go back ever since we’ve left.

“I have some really fond memories there. I’ve been wanting to come back for years and, yeah, I guess this is a good opportunity to.”

Pound spent the first six years of her life in Alice Springs before moving to Albury-Wodonga with her family and later Melbourne.

But she first picked up a football in Alice Springs and could be often found kicking it at Ross Park.

“I think I was five,” she said. “My dad got my two bothers, Lochlan and Isaac, into footy and they loved it.

“I just wanted to do everything my brothers did, so I got into it too.”

Pound, who was drafted from VFLW team Melbourne Uni, was a part of the inaugural season of AFLW in 2017 and played in Carlton’s successful first match against Collingwood at Ikon Park. 

While Pound had an exceptional 2019 season, earning a spot in the AFLW All Australian team, the Blue baggers’ 45-point grand final loss to Adelaide Crows still stings. The game was played in front of 53,034 people, the largest crowd for an AFLW match, at Adelaide Oval.

“It was mixed emotions … it was pretty crazy to hear 52,000 people booing you and maybe the rest of them Carlton supporters,” she said.

“But to get 53,000 in a stadium when people were still thinking, ‘AFLW is going to lose (people’s) interest’ was pretty cool to be a part of.”