PORT Adelaide recruit Jasmine Simmons landed at Alberton on Monday, just hours before the Season 8 sign and trade period closed.

In a busy time for the club, the tall utility was one of five new talents added to Port Adelaide’s AFLW list across both the sign and trade, and priority signing periods.

Joining from rival club Adelaide, Simmons noted the Port Adelaide culture as a significant drawcard to make the move.

“I think culture is the foundation of any successful team and what drew me in is that (Port Adelaide) wanted me to be a part of building that,” she said.

“That was exciting to me because that's something I’m passionate about. Knowing how I can impact the lives of the younger girls but at the same time have people impacting me, there's no place you'd rather be a part of, than something like that.”

Early conversations between Simmons, list manager Naomi Maidment and senior coach Lauren Arnell covered off the club’s values, culture and expectations.

“Naomi, Loz and I had a really good chat about what Port is about,” Simmons said.

“I’ve always loved being a part of underdog teams but when the culture is so strong and you're surrounded by players, coaches and staff who actually believe in who you are as an athlete and as a person, and they want you to develop in both areas, that got me over the line.

“The decision was pretty easy in the end. It's obviously hard leaving (Adelaide, where there were) amazing people but stepping into this place, I could not be more excited.”

Simmons’ route into elite football was not unlike many of her fellow AFLW counterparts – she first arrived in the AFLW system after enjoying success in basketball.

Taking up footy at seven years old, she was later forced to step away at 14 because of a lack of girls’ leagues.

“At the same time as football, I was playing basketball because I wanted to be like my older brother, so I thought I’d give it a crack,” she said.

And give it a crack, she did. Her basketball talent flourished and soon led her out of her hometown of Broken Hill and into the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

“I moved to Canberra and went to the AIS when I was 15, so I moved out of home when I was pretty young,” Simmons said.

“I was there for about two-and-a-half years and then moved to Melbourne for basketball to play for Sandringham Sabres in (what’s now known as) NBL1.”

The 180-centimetre point guard went on to captain Australia as a junior before eventually relocating to the US for college.

While playing basketball at Oregon State University, she completed a bachelor’s degree, majoring in psychology and minoring in communications.

The comparison between the AFLW and her college sporting experience is a tricky one, she says, because while the fandom and passion is huge in the US, the professionalism is at another level in Australia.

“Sport over there is a religion,” said Simmons, who spent three-and-a-half years in America.

“You would get more people at a college basketball game than you would at most professional sport here, except for AFL really. We used to play in front of 12 to 25-thousand people every game. College sports are massive over there.

“Aussies, we have so many different pathways but for (Americans), it is their (entry into) a professional sporting career, so the environment around it, the competitiveness, the rivalries between different schools, you don’t actually understand it until you’re there. Pretty much what you see in the movies is how it is.

“College is only a four-year stint…but playing AFLW, it's just a whole other level above college in terms of professionalism. You’re in a high-performance environment surrounded by elite athletes who are making a career out of the sport they’re playing.”

Outside of sport, the enthusiastic 24-year-old is drawing on her psychology studies to write workshops she hopes to run with groups about leadership, success and goal setting.

“I always wanted to do life coaching, that was also a passion of my dad's when he was younger,” she said.

“That was my dream job because I love helping people and think that when you can tap into the best way to do that, it's pretty cool.”

But for now, Simmons’ is looking forward to the challenge of joining an expansion team and recognises the charm of being associated with something fresh and new.

“Being such a new team with a lot of young girls is exciting, but you've got a lot of girls with great experience, like Erin (Phillips) and now Ash (Woodland), and Gemma (Houghton) who can teach the younger girls what it means to be a high-performance athlete,” she said.

“I just want to become the best player that I can be. I just want to grow and develop in ways I know that I can and have people pushing me to do that athletically, but also to build that resilience mentally.

“Having an impact regardless of whether it’s training, a game or off the field, I think that's my purpose here.”