Shoulders taped so tight she couldn’t pull on her own guernsey, Heather Anderson strapped on her pink helmet and knew the time had come.

The loud cheer from the Darwin crowd as she ran from the interchange area late in the first half in Saturday’s AFL Women’s trial game was about much more than parochial support.

It was also recognition of the struggles Anderson endured to return to play football for the first time in more than a year.

The physical resilience, discipline and courage required to recover from a shoulder reconstruction is one matter. The mental challenge is another, much harder to assess.

Anderson, the first Northern Territory based player drafted by the Crows last October, admits she sat and watched her new teammates from the bench with some trepidation as she waited for her turn.

“Physically I knew I had done absolutely everything I can with rehab and I was in a really good place,” 22-year-old Anderson said. “And the physios said they were really happy with where I was.

“It was more very much a mental game. Remembering what it felt like when it came out the first time. Looking at my arm sticking out the side, the incredible intense pain, is something that has stuck with me a little bit.

“The fear of that happening again was something I had to really work to get past.”

Anderson, an army medic based in Darwin, did not take long to earn her first possession, taking a couple of bounces from defence before “forgetting what I should do next”.

But her next involvement was a confidence-lifting contested overhead mark and by the end of the trial against Fremantle she had pleased the coaches with her attack on the ball, speed and rebound across half-back.

“I knew I had to get out there and take a couple of hard hits, and get my hands on the ball,” Anderson said.

“It was something I really need to do, to get in there as quickly as I could, and I wanted the team to be able to rely on me and to contribute as much as I could to our goal.

“Even before the Crows were announced, I wanted to get myself to the best possible place physically I could be. I wanted the girls to see that I was really emphasising working hard with it and I wanted them to be able to trust me on the field again and know that it wasn’t going to be an issue.

“I went out there and achieved everything I wanted to in a sense – a couple of strong overhead marks, and some good bumps and tackles. I wanted to fit back in with my rebound defence kind of role.

“All up I just want the team to be able to rely on me and know that I’m going to play my role and contribute, and not be a bit of a wuss.”

Anderson’s football journey followed a familiar female path.

She played junior boys footy in Gippsland (Victoria) and then Canberra until she was no longer allowed to play.

But now Anderson – who joined Waratah after being posted to Darwin two years ago – is set to make her AFLW debut when the Crows host GWS Giants at Thebarton Oval on Saturday, February 4.

“Even (this trial), it was one of those pinch yourselves moments, knowing all the hard work these girls have done over the past 12, 18 months, has really paid off,” she said.

“A lot of the time we were training and working, we didn’t really know what the end goal was going to be, it was just a bunch of us who were just relentless to be able to play to the best of our ability and contribute as much as we could.”