West Coast defender Ashton Hill found out she will be lining up in Saturday’s clash against the Adelaide Crows after senior coach Michael Prior made the announcement to an ecstatic playing group in Tuesday’s team meeting.

The announcement came after two seasons on the sidelines, after Hill ruptured her ACL in West Coast’s first-ever AFLW match against Collingwood in round one of the 2020 season.

Coincidentally, Hill will also participate in main training this Thursday at Victoria Park – the ground where she suffered the devastating injury.

“It was round one, I went for a tackle or changed direction, just stepped to the side really and it popped and cracked, knew something wasn’t right and went down,” Hill said.

“It was pretty disappointing, being the first game as well it was a bit of a letdown.

“One touch, one kick, sitting at 100% disposal efficiency, pretty good,” she laughed.

01:18

Ashton Hill To Return

It's been a long journey since suffering a bad knee injury in our club's first ever AFLW game in 2020 - but Ashton Hill is ready to make her return after 713 days off the field

“It’s a bit surreal we’re training at Vic Park, where I did my knee, but you’ve just got to get over it kind of thing, train hard and see how we go.”

Hill will come into the match against 2019 premiers, Adelaide, on Saturday and will play in West Coast’s defence alongside classy half-back Belinda Smith and new recruit Evie Gooch.

The side will be looking to bounce back after a 13-point loss to Gold Coast at VU Whitten Oval in round two on Sunday, and are focussed on putting in a consistent performance and playing four quarters.

“It should be good, I think after last week we’re just going to reset and go hard and do our best, so looking forward to it,” Hill said.

“At the moment, I’m pretty excited, I think I’ll be nervous on game day, but I’m just excited that all the hard work over the last two years, I can actually put it into practice and run out there with the girls.

“They were pretty stoked, there was a few claps and cheers. It was pretty cool.

“I called my mum and I called my partner on FaceTime. They were just really happy for me, just glad that I made it back.

“They’ve seen all the hard work and the ups and downs that I’ve been through.”

Saturday’s match at the Swinburne Centre (Punt Road Oval) against second-placed Adelaide commences at 9:40am (AWST).

Entry is free for all Eagles AFLW Members, while adult tickets are $10. Buy tickets for the match here.