At 45, former Canberran Bec Goddard has the world at her feet.
She spent 20 years as a police officer and achieved national attention as a coach in the AFL Women's competition, leading Adelaide to the 2017 premiership and then taking on her dream job of coaching the women at Hawthorn, her favourite club growing up.
Then, just last month, she shocked the AFL community by announcing she was retiring from coaching.
Sitting in the lobby of the QT Canberra hotel this week, Goddard says it may have seemed as though her coaching career was just getting started but, in reality, it had been a hard slog for years.
Goddard was back in Canberra to receive an AFP Foundation Day award, one of a team of Australian police officers seconded to New Zealand to help in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019 in which 51 people were killed and another 40 injured.
The New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia, Annette King, presented the award to the officers in a private ceremony in Canberra on Thursday.
"I was part of a small team that went over as assistance to New Zealand police as a family investigating liaison officer," she said.
"Whatever they really needed us to do, we did. We helped them to liaise with the families and the victims of that crime."
She was humble about the recognition.
"You don't do policing for awards," she said.
"When police are called, it's not for a good reason. So it's actually your job to turn up and help in that circumstance. So, that was my job on that day, to help in whatever was required. But I am really honoured and grateful to be able to go and help New Zealand at that time when it was a terrible time for their country."
Back in Canberra with her partner, actress and writer Shanrah Wakefield, Goddard has also been dealing with her mother Helen being diagnosed with cancer.
"She's just finished her radiation treatment. She's had a bit of breast cancer which unfortunately runs in the family," she said.
The importance of time with family did play on her mind as she contemplated her future away from football.
"I think you've got to find a healthy balance in life - do you have a life or does the job become all-encompassing?" she said.
"I found that with footy, my cup was really full and I loved it, but I didn't want it to tip over to the point of not loving that anymore. I felt there was only so much that I could give to it and I'd done that."
Goddard resigned from the Australian Federal Police last year after two decades in the service.
"Finally got to superintendent, and finished up in ACT Policing as the superintendent of police communications," she said.
Goddard left the AFP to focus on full-time job coaching at Hawthorn as its inaugural women's coach in the AFLW competition. She already had coached Adelaide to a premiership in the club's inaugural year and was a figurehead of the league, not just for her coaching success but for her sense of humour, personable style and polished media skills.
But there was constant pressure.
"It's one of those places where you've got to be comfortable knowing that someone thinks they can do the job better than you or that they always want your job. If you can be comfortable in that environment, then you'll really go places," she said.
"But it is a difficult space to live in. I pride myself on winning, not just games of football. It's other moments - 'How am I going to get the win today'?"
Goddard loved Hawthorn the club so much she called her first beagle Crawford (after Hawks legend Shane Crawford) and coaching at the club had been a dream.
"I got my dream but when I look back on it, it's been like 17 years of coaching," she said.
"I remember my first ever interview to get a coaching position was here in Canberra with the president of the Gungahlin Jets and I'd never interviewed for a head coaching job before.
"We went to PJ O'Reilly's and I reckon after quite a few schooners, I got the job. And that was the interview process.
"Fast-forward 17 years later, finishing at the club I grew up supporting, it's been a long time in football, bashing on doors to show I could do the job.
"So while it looks like a fairly short career at the Adelaide Crows and at Hawthorn, it's actually been a lifetime. I've done my bit."
Goddard has a long Aussie rules pedigree in Canberra.
Her late grandfather Frank Goddard played for Turner/Belconnen. Her father Rob played for and coached Belconnen.
Her aunt, well-known Canberra identity Anne Cahill Lambert, shares her passion for Hawthorn.
As for what's next?
"That's the big question. I don't know what's next," she said.
"I love being in a team environment and I think what I've learnt in policing and football sets me up for something incredible to keep going with.
"December for me is going to be about relaxing, taking a bit of a break and then in the new year, having some conversations and seeing what else might be out there."
Home will be Melbourne.
"I really love Melbourne," she said.
"I come back to Canberra all the time, my family and friends are here. Canberra's always going to have a place in my heart."
Kids may or may not be part of her and Shanrah's future.
"I don't know where that part of our life is going to take us," she said.
"I've been a fairly selfish individual with my career and football and that has impacted the way my partner has been able to live her life. And I love that we can now go out for dinner whenever we want and start living more of a normal life and let her career continue to do great things."
They do have a little one to consider.
"Our eight-month-old Labrador is a terror so we'll be working on her higher education," Goddard said, with a laugh.
Goddard, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2021 for service to football and women in sport, said finishing her career at Hawthorn and having that special premiership with Adelaide would always be highlights.
"And to see women now really thrive in the football world," she said.
