Twelve months on from her season ending ACL injury, Daria Bannister is nearing a return.

“Doing an ACL is not the best thing about playing football,” Bannister told The Examiner.

“With this injury you can have some setbacks, you can go really well – it sort of just depends sometimes.

“They don’t give you a time frame until you’re pretty confident with it.

“At this stage, I’ve trusted in the process and I’ve ticked all the right boxes, so it shouldn’t be too far away now, but at this stage I still can’t give a timeline.”

While her AFLW debut with the Dogs was one to forget, the 19-year-old is gearing up to celebrate North’s entry into the AFLW competition.

“I think there is no other way to describe this weekend coming apart from exciting,” Bannister said.

“It’s the first-ever game, obviously, for North Melbourne in a general sense, but it’s also the first game being played in Tasmania for the women’s side as well.

“We’re all very excited and looking forward to Sunday.

“It’s very exciting for Tasmanian football to have eight all up Tasmanians, but having four play in the first-ever game too.”

Bannister, from Launceston, believes the Kangaroos have what it takes to beat the best despite split training sessions between Melbourne and Tasmania.

“It’s good that we do have experienced players having been in the system and know what it’s all about,” she said.

“But we also have those new girls who have been drafted and have no idea what the environment is like and the step up is like.”

“North have made it work pretty well. We train with them every now and then – not a lot of the time, but when we do we’re like one whole team.”