Two months ago, Jess Fishlock was suiting up for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) semi-final with the Seattle Reign. Today she will be stepping onto the field with Melbourne City.

In between the two she’s had flights cross-country and around the world, still living out of suitcases. Such is life of the professional footballer who has played on teams across Europe, Australia and the United States.

The NWSL is the professional women's soccer league in the United States with a season that runs from mid-April to September. Fishlock has spent the past three seasons (2013, 2014, 2015) playing for the Seattle Reign, a team undefeated at home in the past two. The opportunity to play in the highly competitive W-League and NWSL were back-to-back moments of perfect timing for Fishlock.

The W-league came calling in 2012, and it was a perfect opportunity at the perfect time “It was the 2012 Olympics and I wasn’t sure I could play for team GB and it was a bit of a tough time for me. So I just wanted away from where I was...it was a perfect way for me to go away and regroup and refocus.”

Then, when Laura Harvey, coach for the Seattle Reign, asked Fishlock about coming to play for the inaugural Seattle Reign squad, she accepted at once “It’s every woman's dream to play in a pro league in America. It was just perfect timing. I had just wrapped up my guest appearances here [Melbourne Victory] and I had an email waiting for me when I got home, I didn’t even ask any questions really.”

With the NWSL heading into it’s fourth season in 2016, Fishlock is looking forward to her return to the Reign, a team that has played for the championship title in back to back years.

However, she relishes her months spent playing in the W-league. "It does take an edge off the constant challenge, mentally, in America the standard is so high. Training is draining in every capacity and it's nice to be able to take part in sessions and have that switch of mentality”, she said.

“It's about making sure you're doing things right, but also you've got the youngsters around that you want to help and you cannot work at the same capacity. Because the capacity you work in at in the NWSL, in Seattle, is a top end capacity. And with the younger people, you just can't work at that capacity. And there's nothing wrong with saying that, and there's nothing wrong with that.”

“It is nice, but at the same time you always have the bit inside of you that always wants to win, at all costs. And we [Melbourne City] have a great squad, so it's a great balance. I enjoy that I've stepped down a little bit, but I know that I speak for the others when I say that we still have the drive and the want to win that will never ever go.”

It's a mutually beneficial relationship for the players who dedicated themselves to playing in both the NWSL and the W-League. The players benefit from a season spent training and playing competitively over lonely months spent in the gym, and the leagues develop a higher standard of competition with every player that decides to play in both.

Above all though, Fishlock comes away from both leagues a better, more well rounded footballer for the experiences she gathers, and the teams she’s a part of.

With aspirations for championship hardware from both teams in the current and coming season, Fishlock looks to those experiences and of course her incredible skill to help carry those teams to the wins.