As AFL players continue their systemic summer preseasons, their female counterparts live the flip sides of their double lives -- attending full-time jobs, studying, and raising families.
They do this while also independently keeping their footy skills in shape until they can access their coach's intel.
While all 1,300 AFLW players are now compensated for the full 12 months of the year, the lack of structure around their six months away from their clubs leaves many floundering.
The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires clubs to have no more than 12 weeks of official preseason training, meaning a player's access to structured coaching is limited to that period as well as the regular season.
Maintaining fitness, advancing skills, and therefore perpetuating the overall quality of the game is down to the players as individuals until their preseason campaigns begin, something Collingwood midfielder and Irish star Sarah Rowe says is "a challenge".
"Our season is six months long and we have six months off, so in that six-month period, where you're essentially 'off', we're now getting paid for all months of the year, which is great, but there's no real structure around that that allows for us to really develop," Rowe said at a gender equity in sport conference in January.
"I think that's something that needs a bit of work.
"In these six months off now, someone like me is thinking 'ok what else can I do? How else can I better myself and my career? How can I set myself up for life after sport?' But then when those six months end, I have to go back into AFL.
"I still have to work full time because perspective in sport is important, but you feel like you're half committing to everything."
The irony in this is that Rowe is a triple-code athlete playing Gaelic Football and soccer for Melbourne Victory, so with three sports on the go it is difficult to imagine her mind is fully programmed to one code at a time.
This gives Rowe, who has played 53 games with the Magpies since debuting in 2019, the perspective of where other women's sports sit in comparison.
"I think the AFL are doing a really good job at moving things really quickly which comes with its strengths and weaknesses I suppose," the 28-year-old said.
"But I'm one of those people that would think that if you aim high, you'll fall short of high, but aim mediocre and you'll also fall short of that.
"I like the way the AFLW has tried to progress really quickly, because while it comes with a few hard years and it means that the standard isn't where we want it to be yet, it will get better quicker.
"But I think what we need in the AFLW is we really need full-time coaches across the board, we need everyone to just be there as much as possible.
Collingwood players are among the luckier ones to benefit from having a senior coach dedicated to the women's program, but this is not the case for all clubs.
Melbourne premiership captain and decorated AFLW trailblazer Daisy Pearce has recently relocated to Perth to assume the mantle of West Coast's AFLW head coach, as one of the other few full-time coaches of the league exclusively dedicated to the women's team.
"A full-time AFLW coach is imperative for our program at West Coast Eagles and as we grow the AFLW competition," Eagles head of women's football Michelle Cowan said.
"It allows us to offer contact and connection for one-on-one player development, program planning as well as opportunity to grow the game and enhance our pathways in WA."
As it stands, there are six clubs with a full-time women's coach: Geelong, Gold Coast, GWS, Sydney, Collingwood, and West Coast.
The others either work in a part time capacity or are employed by their respective clubs full time but work across the men's program for the remainder of the year, making them less accessible for the AFLW cohort.
The most recent CBA was penned last year extending until 2027. And with stipulations including increased games, and 12-month, multi-year contracts for AFLW players, the necessity for full-time coaching staff will only increase.
For the 2024 and 2025 AFLW seasons, each player and club will commit to no more than 22 hours per week during preseason and the main season including matches.
Rowe perfectly encapsulates players' collective hunger for improvement, as AFLW athletes grapple with the task of honing their skills independently during a long offseason.
"Players are really hungry just to get better, but they don't always have the option of saying 'can we come in and do something?'," she said.
"We need an extra set of hands; we can do as much as we want with each other, but some of us have come from different sports, so we could fall into bad habits."