When a recruiter for the Geelong Football Club came to her house in Ballarat, he noticed a framed number 27 guernsey hanging on the wall, marking her dad’s 200 games for Sebastopol Football Club.

Three weeks later, her dad was waiting in the car for her after football training when the teenager jumped into the passenger seat with a grin on her face.

“Dad guess what,” she said.

“They got me the number 27.”

Mark Van De Heuvel, who runs a cleaning company in Ballarat, said he got “a little bit emotional”.

“I’m just so proud,” he said.

Sophie Van De Heuvel is the number two draft pick for the Cats, which play in the season opener against Collingwood this Saturday night at GMHBA Stadium.

There was a chance the 18-year-old could have missed round one altogether. As well as being a talented half-forward and wing player, Van De Heuvel is also a handy cricketer.

The all-rounder represented Victoria Country in the under-18 national championships this month and did her hamstring fielding, but managed to dodge serious injury and was back at football training last week.

Van De Heuvel said she will be focusing on her burgeoning football career this year.

“The physicality of the game is what got me. I played netball as well, and cricket, but [football] is a bit rougher,” she said.

She grew up surrounded by both sports. Her mother Melinda Brown, a paralegal, was a good netballer and indoor cricketer and her father, while clocking up 200 games at Sebastopol, played 330 games of cricket for Golden Point. Her 195 centimetre brother plays both sports as well.

Van De Heuvel started playing football in Auskick, but focused on netball before she pestered her parents to play with the boys in under-14s football four years ago.

“She was itching to play, but we didn’t want her to get hurt,” her father said.

“And then I thought she’d play under-14 boys, maybe play up until under-16s. But she started playing football again at the right time.”

Van De Heuvel went on to star in the youth girls competition before being picked up by Williamstown where recruiters took notice of her speed and agility on the ground.