"The hardest thing in life is to be yourself. It takes courage to acknowledge your vulnerabilities, your weaknesses, your flaws. But it's a necessary step to accepting yourself for who you are."
There is something Mary Fowler has taught herself to do on a football pitch whenever she feels like it's all becoming a bit too much.
Perhaps she's not playing well. Perhaps her team is losing. Or perhaps things just aren't quite working the way she wanted.
Whether she's in the green-and-gold of Australia or the colours of her club teams, there's one thing she does to bring herself back into the game, into the moment, and into herself.
She looks up.
At 19-years-old, you wouldn't expect Fowler to have developed her own natural philosophy.
But it's something the Matilda has learned to do in order to keep herself steady, especially these days as she makes increasingly larger waves on the international stage.
"I'm very connected to nature," Fowler told ABC.
"Every part of me. When I'm on the field — and this might sound crazy to people — but if I see the moon, or a cloud, or birds, or the sky, I feel the same feeling I have when I'm walking through nature.
"When I'm seeing those things, when I feel part of it, it helps me see the bigger picture because I'm just in such awe of the beauty of the earth.
"When I do that, I go into a state of almost Zen. It's definitely helped me find balance with football and outside football."
Maybe it's no surprise that Fowler has such a connection with nature given the circumstances of her upbringing.
Born in far north Queensland, she and her four siblings — known collectively as "The Fowler Five" — spent much of their time outdoors, mostly on the grassy hills and white sands of Trinity Beach, about 30 minutes north of Cairns.
Encouraged by their parents, Kevin and Nido, to switch off from technology (they did not own a television), the Fowlers honed their athletic abilities in these natural spaces, organising their own intra-family Olympic Games — complete with medals — and football tournaments along the glittering coastline.
And while her older brother Quivi (also known as 'Caoimhin') was the first Fowler to pursue football professionally, with the family moving back and forth between Australia and Europe to facilitate his dream, it's Mary who has emerged as the Fowler clan's main prodigy.
Youth coaches and scouts would remark on her seemingly super-natural abilities with a ball at her feet: her balance, her vision, her controlled but ferocious power.
In 2019, despite having never played in a senior women's league before, she became one of the youngest-ever players called up to a national team at a Women's World Cup when she joined the Matildas in France at just 16 years old.
She spring-boarded that unexpected moment into her first W-League contract with Adelaide United later that year before swiftly moving abroad with French top-flight club Montpellier in January 2020.
Unlike fellow prodigy Ellie Carpenter, who burst onto the Matildas scene at around the same age, Fowler's early move overseas (and the minimal exposure of France's D1 Féminine league to Australian fans) has meant she has flourished largely away from public view.
Her family has been a big reason for that, acting as a protective barrier in the same way a greenhouse keeps seedlings safe from harsh weather. Fowler has rarely given interviews over the years, preferring instead, in her words, "to let her football do the talking."
But now, having put pen to paper at one of the game's biggest clubs, the eyes of the footballing world are turning in her direction; the seedling is beginning to sprout.
Earlier this year, Fowler was named the PFA's Young Women's Player and was voted second in Goal.com's NXGN award for the 10 best young players on the planet.
This growing spotlight has made finding balance and stillness off the field all the more important.
Art is a particular practise she gravitates towards: clay-work, sculpture, and painting are some of the outlets she uses to explore who she is, to ask questions, to work through problems, to find shape and colour for her emotions.
She collaborates with her brothers — who dabble in film-making — and has a keen eye for photography herself, with an appreciation for angles and light.
Her Instagram strikes the balance between these two Marys: the steely-eyed, laser-focused professional fans see on the pitch, and the bright, sagacious young woman who immerses herself in the tranquillity of nature off it.
Right now, stillness is something she's struggling to find: instead, her inner life is a tangle of excitement and nerves.
And who could blame her? She's a few weeks away from flying to England to begin pre-season with her new club, linking up with fellow Matildas Alanna Kennedy and Hayley Raso, while also rubbing shoulders with some of the game's greatest thinkers, including Pep Guardiola and her footballing idol, Kevin De Bruyne.
Indeed, she was the name on everybody's lips at the launch of a new rebel store in western Sydney, where our interview took place. A 10-foot-tall portrait of her hung in a glass case near the entrance. She spent part of her morning standing on stage speaking about the growth of women's football. She signed autographs for squealing fans in Matildas jerseys and took selfies with staff members who lined up patiently to meet her.
With the home 2023 Women's World Cup around the corner, the player seen as the heir-apparent to Sam Kerr — who described Fowler as "the best finisher with both feet" for the Matildas — knows that her star is beginning to shine brighter.
But while it all seems a bit daunting from the outside, Fowler is embracing the rush, knowing that it's all part of a longer project building up to next year and beyond.
"I've been wanting to play in such a high-level environment for a long time, and being in the Matildas gave me a taste of that, but I wanted more," she said.
"Being at Man City, it's a club that has an expectation of being up there and winning things, and that's definitely going to come with a lot of pressure.
"At a World Cup, you already have that pressure to perform, but at a home World Cup, it's almost double that amount. So I think being at City will be a really good thing for me and the Matildas.
"We all really trust the coach [Tony Gustavsson] and we believe in his plan; and there definitely is a plan, which maybe is hard to see from the outside. But there's definitely a lot of belief."
And though it may seem like she has already hit the heights that many footballers dream of, Fowler is conscious of the work that lies ahead — and the inner stillness she must draw upon — if she is to live up to what, right now, feels like limitless potential.
"Part of the reason for going to Man City is I'm going to be surrounded by players that, simply put, are better than me," she said.
"I have so much to learn from them, even in the aspects of my game that are already good, but can always be better.
"I'm going into an environment that's faster, and people are going to be pushing you in ways you haven't been pushed before.
"I'm still young. For all that I've achieved, I've still got a lot more to do. I'm aiming for that next level.
"So if it's been in the shadows for most people, well, that's great — because I'm not at the top yet, which is where I want to be."
