A staggering 18,429 people were in attendance creating an atmosphere the 24-year-old had never experienced — certainly not as a junior playing under-12s in the Goulburn Valley.
Her footballing journey of just six years has had her summit the VFLW last season with Hawthorn, before transitioning to the national competition, where her Cats’ side reached a preliminary final before going down to Adelaide.
Crockett-Grills’ approach to the sporting rollercoaster ride her team is on is to drink it in and keep riding.
‘‘We’re just taking on what’s in front of us, it’s ever-changing and the environment is not going to be the same from year-to-year,’’ she said.
‘‘So you have to enjoy the opportunities, like starting in the midfield for the first bounce, just taking that in. It was so loud, I think there were 18,000 people there, it was very cool.
‘‘Playing round one was awesome and amazing there were that many people there watching. It was the opening game of the season and we were all keen to take that challenge on.’’
Born at Camperdown, Crockett-Grills grew up at Kyabram where schoolyard footy provided her first taste of the great game.
Unable to play with the boys after under-12s — with youth girls teams a foreign concept at this time — her football life was put on hold temporarily before the passion was later reignited.
‘‘I played under-12s at St Augustine’s with the boys, but in the past after under-12s you weren’t allowed to play,’’ she said.
‘‘I got into netball and eventually started playing cricket, and that meant I ended up moving down to Melbourne, where I started playing football with a local women’s team.
‘‘It would have been amazing to have that opportunity (youth girls sides), but growing up playing with the boys maybe has been a bit of an advantage, getting used to that rough and tough footy.
‘‘But the pathways developing across Victoria are just blowing me away, it is fantastic and the talent is only getting better from here.’’
Crockett-Grills won the 2013 Victorian Women’s Football League south-east premiership with Scoresby then played three seasons with Knox, before joining the Box Hill Hawks.
From there she headed to Hawthorn’s VFLW side, where her Hawks tasted grand final success last season with an 11-point triumph against her current side — Geelong.
Knowing she would be joining the Cats the next season made the decider somewhat awkward, but did not ruin her most spectacular of sporting days.
‘‘It was one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had — it was such a great bunch of girls and just so good to get the win in a really good game,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve won a few different premierships along the way, but that was certainly the standout.’’
The versatile midfielder who is not afraid to get her hands dirty and win the ball in the stoppages, has made her presence felt with tackling pressure, averaging more than four tackles a game along with a season-high eight tackles in round two.
‘‘It’s been a good season, it’s certainly an elite environment and all very professional. You notice the step up, the VFL was quite elite, but this is up another level,’’ Crockett-Grills said.
‘‘It’s been an amazing experience.’’