At the start of the year Alice Arnott felt like her dream of playing for the Hockeyroos was slipping away from her.
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Returning to The Hague for the second half of the Dutch Hockey League season, after missing a spot in the 2023 squad the 23-year-old admits she thought "that door" had closed for her and was focused on "making an impact" for her Klein Zwitserland team and making that her priority.
But in Adelaide on Thursday night, in front of family, friends and mentors, the moment just a few months ago the striker thought might never happen finally did.
Now she is daring to dream of Paris 2024 again.
"I thought that (Hockeyroos) was kind of done and then I got called up for [the series against India], which was obviously really exciting," Arnott said.
"And that kind of changed everything again for me."
She doesn't expect there to be too many more opportunities with the Hockeyroos this year with the squad already named for their Europe leg of the Pro League, and much the same squad likely to play in the Oceania Cup, which doubles as the Olympic qualifiers.
"[But] I guess now the good thing for me is that I will have caps under my belt and going into Hockey One... if I do perform then there's definitely opportunity for me to get into the squad for the Olympic year, which is really cool," she said.
She couldn't have wished for a better debut, scoring her maiden international goal as the Hockeyroos clinched a series opening 4-2 win.
Something she has "been working towards for a really long time" it was made all the more special having parents James and Kate there to share it with.
Former coach Richard Willis, and wife Nicolette, also made the trip down from Tamworth, which she said was "really really special".
A "massive part" of her career "growing up", she said when she mentioned to Willis that she was going to be making her debut, she said she'd love him to be there but didn't expect with work commitments he would be able to.
"It meant a lot for him to be there because he's been one of the biggest impacts on my career and why I've kind of stuck at it for so long," she said.
Her support crew also included boyfriend Tom Craig's parents, Barbara and Johnathon.
"They live in Adelaide so got to come as well, which was pretty cool," Arnott said.
Unfortunately Craig himself couldn't be there as he is over in Europe with the Kookaburras preparing for their upcoming Pro League games.
Joining Kim Small, Kate Jenner and Georgina Morgan as Tamworth players that have gone on to represent the Hockeyroos, she also felt plenty of support from the local hockey community.
"It's been so nice. I honestly didn't realise how much everyone cared," she said.
"But the messages that came in [before she made her debut] and the amount of people that said they watched the game was just so heartwarming."
"I even got photos of people (it was the Tamworth under 18 girls) that were watching it together with their Tamworth jackets on."
She has remained down in Adelaide and will have another chance to impress as part of the Australia A side that will take on India on Thursday and Saturday.
Following that she will don the green and white for Tamworth at the state open women's championships on the June long weekend.
"I wouldn't miss that for the world," Arnott said.
