There's been no shortage of hurdles that Richmond draftee Eilish Sheerin has had to jump on her way to an AFLW list.

After missing out her dream back in 2020 on due to an ACL injury, she worked tirelessly to get back. And now, after an impressive season in the AFL Sydney competition, her persistence has paid off. 

"Coming so close to it before I tore my ACL was a great motivator for me," Sheerin said, after being taken by the Tigers with pick 58.

"It reminded me that if I put in the effort and if I worked really hard, it was definitely something that was within my reach.

"So, I used that as fuel for the fire and I worked really hard and I feel like I came back stronger than I was prior to my injury.

"I'm happy I had that adversity in my build up, it makes me appreciate it more and understand that I can work hard to achieve my goals."

Having only started playing football in her late 20s after a junior soccer career, Sheerin has never let age be a roadblock for her either. 

"I've always been a high achiever, so (AFLW) was always something that I was striving towards, even after some setbacks," Sheerin said.

"You play what's in front of you and I don't see age as any particular barrier for me.

"That was always the intent and I'm so glad I've been given the opportunity to pursue it here."

Sheerin's draft night was rather different to most, tuning into the live stream from Indonesia.

"It took a bit of the pressure off, I wasn't too nervous during the lead up," she said.

"I was streaming it on the computer with my mum in the room with me, it was quite exciting and then I had a few people FaceTiming me."

The 29-year-old said she'd received a warm welcome to Tigerland in the days since. 

"The support that I had from the club, people messaging me and reaching out on draft night and in the days since draft night, has been incredible...from the president all the way down to the girls in the team," she said.

"I'm absolutely ecstatic and thrilled to dive in and earn my stripes and get on the track with the girls."

While Sheeran played predominately as a midfielder for the Inner West Mapgies, she has been earmarked by the Tigers as a rebounding defender.

"I'm very competitive, I'm quite powerful and I'm pretty hungry for the ball. I'm hoping to slot right in there and turn a bit of defence into attack," she said.

I think they've obviously seen traits in me where they think I'm going to excel off the half-back line, so and I'm looking forward to exploring that and developing that part of my game.