“I’ve had a couple of trips with U17 and U20 national teams in the past; been to Korea once, Vietnam a couple of times, China a couple of times. So, the long travel, the big commutes on planes and the bus trips are pretty familiar to me.

“It’s obviously a challenge on the body and the mind.

“But at the end of the day if we take care of our bodies and are smart the travel shouldn’t be too much of an issue.”

Beard started at left-back in Victory’s season-opener, handed the daunting task of attempting to marshal Sydney attacker Caitlin Foord.

It was a sharp contrast to her exploits during the W-League offseason, where the 22-year old was part of a lethal Calder United attacking triumvirate alongside Aleksandra Sinclair and Catherine Zimmerman.

The trio combined for an astonishing 90 goals between them in the 2019 NPLW Victoria season, with Beard scoring 31 of those.

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old is happy to be back on the left side of the defence.

“I think playing as a winger was a creative outlet for me in the offseason,” she said.

“Being able to bomb on forward and bang home 30-odd goals was amazing but I’m still focusing and working on my defending.

“I think the last season, my confidence and enjoying playing the game was a really big part of actually succeeding. Success doesn’t come without the two of those things.

“I think this league, and the national team, are looking for attacking fullbacks; fullbacks that can get up the line and then come back and do the dirty work down in their third as well – I think that’s super important.

“The Olympics coming up is still a massive goal but, for me personally, I think about just showing up every game and putting in a good performance.

“I don’t really fuss about being a standout player as long as my contribution is catering to the team and the team is succeeding.

“But in terms of call-ups? I wouldn’t be mad if I got a call up to the national team.”