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After the Adelaide Crows won the inaugural AFLW premiership in 2017, a then 19-year-old Ebony Marinoff leaned into the microphone on the broadcast and declared: "We just made history!".
And for the seven years that followed, the South Australian star, who used to run around with the Lockleys Football Club boys team as a kid, continued to do so.
Right up to Monday night, where after being in contention every year since inception, she finally took out the league's best and fairest.
In a tight race, Marinoff finished with 23 votes, three votes ahead of North Melbourne star Ash Riddell.
Georgia Bevan and Marinoff hold their medals up for their best-on-ground performances during the SANFL All Stars Women's Exhibition match in April 2016. (Getty Images: Morne de Klerk)
In a competition that's been plagued with uncertainty and change since day dot — particularly with season start dates and fixturing — one thing has been ever-reliable: Marinoff. Or, better known in the AFLW circles, 'Noffy'.
The now 27-year-old is a three-time premiership player, seven-time All Australian, two-time club champion, inaugural Rising Star recipient and the AFLW games record holder.
While fans mightn't have known when the next season was going to be held — there were two squeezed into 2022 and next year's start was only announced earlier this month — they could rely on Marinoff powering the Crows' midfield.
Usually to a grand final, or at least a preliminary final.
In the Crows' very first game, seven years ago against Greater Western Sydney in February 2017, Marinoff was the leading possession-getter and earned the league's first Rising Star nomination alongside Western Bulldogs defender Bailey Hunt.
Marinoff celebrates Adelaide's first win during the first ever round of the AFLW in 2017. (Getty Images: James Elsby/AFL Media/Getty Images)
After that game, played in front of more than 10,000 people, she admitted she never thought she'd see the day she got to play in an elite women's competition.
"I didn't think it would happen. I know one day I'll be a professional athlete, so I'll keep at it and see where it takes me," she told AFL.com.au.
It was a sentiment she shared again on Monday night.
Loading..."To be able to play my childhood dream, I didn't think it was going to be something [I could do] and to be standing up here today is incredible," she said in her victory speech.
"So to the AFL, thank you so much for continuing this pathway and excited for what's to come.
"To my Crows family, amazing, like I'm a proud South Australian, so to be able to play for the club that I support … I love you all, and I'm so proud to be up here."
Even before the AFLW started for women's footy fans, she was there, racking up disposals for Melbourne in the women's exhibition game.
She then became the first player to 1000 disposals in AFLW history in 2022 — achieved in a game against GWS where she had 24 touches and 16 tackles — and became one of three players to first notch 50 games, along with Brisbane's Ally Anderson and Hawthorn's Emily Bates.
She's now Adelaide's co-captain beside Sarah Allan.
And her ethos through it all — "head down, bum up, get to work".
It's why there were a few teary eyes in the room when she took the stage on Monday night.
This wasn't just any player getting the medal put around her neck; this was a genuine pioneer of the women's game.
A player that many rusted on women's footy fans have watched grow with the league, from a wide-eyed teenager winning the very first AFLW premiership, then twice more, including in front of 53,000 fans at Adelaide Oval, to standing in front of all her peers at 27 as the best player in the league.