When Kirsty Lamb pulls on the black, white and teal for the first time, she’ll be living out a childhood dream.

The 29-year-old, who landed at Alberton on the final day of the recent AFLW Trade Period, grew up supporting Port Adelaide because of her proud family ties to the club – her uncle Paul Rizonico played 102 SANFL games for the Magpies between 1989 and 1994.

“With Uncle Paul playing, and obviously him working at the club for pretty much the majority of his life, there was always a part of me that wanted to play there”, she said.

“When Port weren't in the (AFLW) competition, I always thought if there was ever another club that I'd want to play for, I'd probably only play for Port Adelaide. That was always in the back of my head.

“I always wanted to play at the same club that Uncle Paul played at.”

After five years playing elite cricket for Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades, Lamb was drafted to the Western Bulldogs in 2016, and made her debut in Round 1 the following year.

Between winning a premiership in 2018 and claiming the club’s best and fairest medal in 2022 (Season 6), she’s already tasted both group and individual success, and is excited to bring her experiences to Alberton.

“From a footy perspective, just having watched a lot of (Port Adelaide’s) games over the last two years, it's a super young team, but what I like the look of, is how talented the girls are,” Lamb said.

“From all the conversations I've had, it's obvious that they're so eager to learn and you have to really harness that and really use it to your advantage. I'm hoping I can pass on some experience to some of those girls. They've got a lot of potential across all three lines so I'm just excited to see how far these players can take their footy.”

When Port Adelaide entered the AFLW, Lamb’s loyalty to the Bulldogs was important to her – they had shown faith in her since the beginning.

“(Port Adelaide) first reached out to me before Season 7 and at that stage I still had a contract with the Bulldogs and obviously I wanted to uphold the contract I was in,” she said.

“Then they reached out again at the end of the season and at that stage I was very much open to a conversation. I guess having grown up going for Port Adelaide, it was of interest to me.

“I had some conversations with my uncle and spoke to (senior coach) Loz Arnell a fair bit and (list manager) Naomi (Maidment). I came over to the club and had a look around.

“The Bulldogs had their B&F on Thursday, the seventh of December so I was really mindful of that, that I wanted to do everything right by the Bulldogs and get through the B&F and have that weekend to sit with my family and make a decision. If you're going to make a move, you have to do things right by both clubs and give them time to get everything sorted.”

And thankfully she did just that, because the gutsy midfielder ranked third in the Bulldogs’ best and fairest count, and earned the club’s leading goal-kicker award.

Despite growing up in Victoria, Lamb already has connections with her new home state, with her mum’s side residing in Adelaide.

“I'm obviously sad to be leaving my immediate family in Melbourne but it means they will probably be in Adelaide more than they have in recent years,” she said.

“I've got a pretty big network (in Adelaide). All of my mum's side is over there and when I've come over at times and played in Adelaide, mum would always request 20 or 30 tickets for the family so they could all sit together!

“They've all messaged me and can’t wait for me to come over and catch up with them. I'm pretty lucky I've got a good support network.”

After eight seasons and 67 games at the Bulldogs, a new opportunity looms for Lamb. Growing her leadership skills is important to her, and it’s clear she’s keen to set an example for, and connect with, the young players on the Power’s list.

“Leadership is something I value in myself so I'm hoping to just come over and be myself and pass on my knowledge of what I have (learned) in football to the younger players and help nurture them through,” she said.

“Abbey (Dowrick) is probably one I've watched pretty closely. I definitely like how she goes about her football, very much an in-and-under sort of player, which I do love. Matilda (Scholz) is a class ruck. She's got so much talent and a huge future ahead of her.

“(I’m excited to) work with some of those girls in terms of their craft and really developing and improving on their strengths. I've watched those two pretty closely and I love what I see.”

Above all, Lamb is most excited about her journey coming full circle – she’ll be following in her uncle’s footsteps, joining the club she adored as a child.

“When (Port Adelaide’s) W program came in, I was very much settled at the Bulldogs, but here I am now (a year later), making the move," she said.

“I'm very, very happy to be coming to play at the club that as a kid growing up, I was barracking for."