Former Melbourne AFLW gun Mel Hickey is one of many confident in what Geelong’s AFLW team can produce next season.

The 33-year-old key defender has been on the road to recovery for a while now, after an ACL knee reconstruction almost six months ago.

Hickey has seen recent progression with her rehab and the thoughts of next year’s season in the blue hoops have provided much needed hope for the recovering star.

“I feel I’ve really turned a corner in the last month.”

“When you get to month four and five you know you’ve still got so many months to go,” Hickey said.

Hickey is a premiership player for the Darebin Falcons and played an assistant coaching role throughout this year’s VFLW season.

Due to the Darebin campaign finishing early, Hickey completed her rehab down at GMHBA Stadium while the Geelong VFLW were preparing for finals.

 “Just to be around the group and obviously be out here on the stadium is pretty amazing,” she said.

Her family connection to Geelong legend and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Reg Hickey, has also allowed Hickey to draw a stronger connection to the Cats.

“Taking it all in and thinking about the history and my connection to Reg and thinking about him.”

Hickey has great belief and confidence in the building Geelong team that they can aspire to something extraordinary in next year’s inaugural season.

“To be honest I have pretty high expectation and big goals for this team,” she said.

“I don’t know if I’m being too bold to say but yeah, I want to win a premiership and obviously this club has such a great culture of success and winning”