DAISY Pearce says she can’t wait to play in the September 3 clash against the Western Bulldogs at Whitten Oval, which will be “a taste of what’s to come next year” before the women’s league starts.

The Melbourne women’s captain said she had “loved playing in the exhibition matches to date”.

“I’m really excited. I like the idea of playing here [at Whitten Oval] as well, with 10,000 packed in – it will be a great atmosphere and I look forward to playing amongst it,” she said.

“Moving forward, this could become an All Australian hit-out and a great opportunity to give the women’s game some legs throughout the rest of the [AFL] season.

“Hopefully it evolves to that but first things first, I look forward to getting out and competing against the best this year.”

Pearce said she was also open to an All-Australian, State of Origin or best-of-the-best contest next year.  

“We have competed in national championships in the past and that went out of fashion with the idea of the national women’s league coming,” she said.

“Maybe one day it becomes [State of Origin], but I’d like to see it become like an All-Australian squad competing and a team picked after that match.

“[It would] be similar to what happens with this match – the curtain raiser on September 3 will be an U18s All-Australian squad. I like that idea and I’d love to play in that towards the end of the national women’s league.”

Pearce said there was also excitement surrounding the marquee players.

“There’s a huge buzz among the players at the moment just waiting for those [16] announcements to happen,” she said.

“For us girls, it’s a dream come true and one that we didn’t think would ever happen, so to have conversations with footy clubs about signing on as a player at their club is exciting in itself.

“Me personally, I haven’t done a lot of jockeying as I hope to end up at Melbourne [so] I haven’t had a lot of conversations given that’s where I work day-to-day and have formed those relationships and connections over the last few years.

“Hopefully that’s where I end up and it becomes official in the next couple of weeks. Certainly players that don’t necessarily have those connections are having a lot of conversations and are looking forward to it all being concrete.”