Two-and-a-half months on the sidelines is not exactly what Bronte Anannd envisioned after deciding to ply her umpiring trade back in the BFNL this season.
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The 23-year-old field umpire was in Alice Springs ahead of the Melbourne versus Carlton AFLW fixture on March 14, when word came down that the season was being cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The match went ahead, albeit without a crowd, before a hastily arranged final series was announced.
A week later, the season was cancelled with no premier crowned.
The premature end put the lid on a promising second season for Annand in the AFLW, which had come on the heels of her second at VFL level, and capped a rapid rise to prominence in the umpiring ranks.
Despite entering her 11th year as an umpire, Annand only made the transition to field umpiring in 2017 - the year she became the first Bendigo-raised female central umpire to officiate a senior BFNL match.
Her passion for grassroots football has never left her, hence the decision to commit to a season back in the Bendigo league.
But things haven't exactly gone as planned.
"I decided at the start of the year that I would come home to umpire in the Bendigo league, but unfortunately with the coronavirus hitting it has set things back a little bit," she said.
"But I have my fingers and toes crossed that some sort of football will happen within the Bendigo league.
"I know they are pushing for juniors to get back, so if that's what we get, I'm all for it.
"I'm really excited to come back and do local football after umpiring in the AFLW and VFL."
Annand, an inaugural member of the National Female Umpiring Academy, has been far from lying idle during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still hopeful some semblance of a season will go ahead, maintaining fitness has been a priority - so too has her employment as a legal secretary at Arnold Dallas McPherson Lawyers in Bendigo.
She has also grasped the opportunity to let her creativity shine by entering and winning the inaugural Queensland's Best Backyard Bouncer competition.
Organised by the Queensland High Performance Umpiring Group, the competition sought video entries from umpires across Australia, which were voted on by the public based on entertainment and quality.
Annand, whose video featured cameos from 'Razor' Ray Chamberlain and one of her mentors, five-time AFL grand final whistleblower Simon Meredith, toppled Tasmanian Bryce Guy in the final.
It was part-filmed at Bendigo's iconic Queen Elizabeth Oval, where Annand was gratefully able to officiate an AFLW match on home soil earlier this season, involving Richmond and Geelong.
"There were semi-finals, prelims and then the grand final, so I managed to slip by through the semi-final against the guy I was up against in the grand final; he got a wildcard into the granny," she said.
"People voted on Facebook and Instagram and each time I was lucky to get the most votes.
"I've always had a knack for coming up with something a little bit lame, that's a little bit funny and managed to come up with two videos.
"It was all just a bit of fun."
With no call made on whether the BFNL season will go ahead, Annand said some Bendigo Umpires Association members had returned to training in small groups, while others continued to train alone.
"My gut feel tells me there will be some footy, and I really do hope there is," she said.
"It affects more than players, there's a whole community of umpires and that is what they do on a Saturday. They just love umpiring.
"We're all upset we haven't been able to get out and run around."
