Wood said it was a surprise when she got selected.

“First of all it was just shock, I did not see it coming at all,” she said.

“I was pretty relieved as well to find out.”

The junior footballer has been playing football for nine years and joined the Ararat Storm under-18 girls team last season.

Wood said she took inspiration from her brothers and wanted to start playing after watching them during games.

“It looked like a lot of fun and I was never really interested in many sports until football,” she said.

“Working as a team, making new friends and the fitness involved all put together is what keeps me coming back after getting drawn into the game.”

The Ararat Secondary College student spends most of her time on the wing but is starting to play in the forward line a bit more often.

She said the opportunity to tryout for the squad will be important in her own development on the field.

“To move up to the higher level, playing at the Storm gets me used to it, then this is another step up again,” she said.

Wood said she knows she has a few areas of her game she still needs to improve to become a more consistent player.

“Just to improve a bit on my fitness and talking more on the field, communicating better with my teammates,” she said.

Wood’s Storm teammate Georgia Clarke was also selected to tryout for the Victoria Country under-18 girls team.

Clarke is a member of the AFL National Women’s academy with this year being the second year she has been invited to the training sessions in Ballarat.

The Storm player was selected in the final squad in 2016 and was named in the V/Line Cup team of the carnival.

The final squad will be selected later this year.