Having spent her entire life in Gunnedah, all 19 years of it, Zoe Palmer has come to the realisation that "you can't get away with anything".
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That may have been a negative for her in the past. But the other day it provided her with a "funny" moment with a fellow local, although the remark was hardly surprising given Palmer is a key member of the Bulldogs.
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She was walking down the street and a woman leaned out a pub window and yelled: "You had a good game on the weekend!"
"It was pretty funny," Palmer said.
The teen and her Bulldogs teammates are the talk of the town; this time last year they were not even an entity.
A month into their debut season odyssey, the Bulldogs women lead the competition going into their top-of-the-table clash against the Swans at No 1 Oval on Saturday.
Last weekend they won their fourth-straight match in beating reigning premiers Inverell for the second time this year, but this time on the road - the final score 8.3 (51) to 1.2 (8).
Great kid, very unassuming, tough as and just makes the ball her own.
- Sam Proudfoot
Palmer, who plays on the forward flank and on the wing, was named the Dogs' second best player. She thinks she has scored the coaches award twice this season, having followed her Gunnedah teammate Bella Gallagher to Bulldogs preseason training.
A well-known athlete prior to making her AFL debut this year, with a background in swimming, touch football, soccer and tennis, Palmer said the Bulldogs had fostered "a really good environment." "I think the people that we play with have made it a lot more fun," she said.
Commenting on Palmer, Bulldogs co-coach Sam Proudfoot said he "cannot talk her up enough".
"Great kid, very unassuming, tough as and just makes the ball her own," he said, adding that she is "incredibly well-respected by her teammates" and has a "lethal right boot".
