For the newly-minted Sydney Swans, the opening night of their AFLW lives started with a guard of honour and ended with hearts in mouths.
With more than 8,200 supporters filing into North Sydney Oval for the club's opening fixture, taking their vantage points in its inimitable stands, on its embankments or under the trademark fig trees, an atmosphere of joy over expectation was palpable.
However, by the final siren's sound, with the Harbour City side sitting 29 points in arrears of the travelling Saints and their most talented teenager ruled out of action, Sydney's supporters had been force-fed their first bitter taste of injury agony.
Having joined the start-up Swans with the first pick of the 2022 AFLW Draft, Montana Ham had been billed as a contested footy loving, elite-talent, able to float forward and help out down back.
And when 18-year-old Victorian nonchalantly laced teammate Rebecca Privitelli with a laser pass off half-back mid-way through the final stanza, all and sundry saw the truth amongst the spruiking.
Yet, with less than four minutes left in the Swans' emotional opening song, Ham was helped from the thimble-sized surface, left grabbing at her right knee following a collision with St Kilda stopper Jayde Van Dyk.
Speaking in the wake of the deflating collision, Swans head coach Scott Gowans claimed that while a final diagnosis was yet to be secured, the precocious debutant would be sent for scans.
″She’s in good spirits at the moment,” Gowans said of Ham's mood.
“We’ll get a scan and have a look at it. It’s a hard one to tell, the way that it happened with the way that the St Kilda player fell across.
“I usually like to get an indication (from the medical staff) but they couldn’t even give me an indication.″
With scans completed on Sunday, Sydney was able to relay the welcome news that Ham had not sustained a season-ending ACL injury, however, the exact ailment sustained by the teenager is not yet known.
Across the course of the AFLW's opening six seasons, ACL injuries have, sadly, been commonplace, with studies into kinetics, genetics and apparel commenced to hunt for a catalyst.
RELATED: Why are AFLW players more prone to ACL injuries?
Though Thursday and Friday's fixtures came and went without any severance, by Saturday's cessation, Ham had joined West Coast's Kellie Gibson in being aided from the action with a knee complaint..
The 26-year-old ended the Eagles' win over Port Adelaide in a knee brace, her season on tenterhooks according to her senior steward.
"I'm not sure," Michael Pryor stated when asked for a diagnosis. "She will have a scan tomorrow and we will know more."
Round 1 of the seventh AFLW season will draw to a close on Sunday following clashes between the Bulldogs and Giants, the Dockers and Lions and the Cats and Tigers.