It may sound bizarre but that's the path the gun basketballer and netballer took to foster her love for our native game.

The 26-year-old played for Wandsworth Demons in the AFL London competition, and her ruck work was vital in North Wagga's superb maiden season in the AFL Southern NSW women's league.

The Saints were due to play fellow unbeaten team Charles Sturt University in the grand final before the coronavirus outbreak cut the campaign short with one regular season round left.

Barrett has spent the summer training with Coolamon's netball squad and was due to fly back to London this month, but will now isolate with family in Temora before heading to Europe to travel.

"When I moved over there it was the first time I actually tried Aussie Rules. I moved to Europe to try an Australian sport," Barrett said.

"There was some girls over there who had a lot of experience over there, so I learned a lot in my first year.

"When I talk to people that I work with I told them I was playing Aussie Rules, and when I showed them a few clips on YouTube they were pretty shocked how tough it is."

Barrett said she and her teammates are still clinging to some hope the local women's grand final will still go ahead at some stage later in the year.

"I think we're still holding onto some hope of playing later on, but if not we look forward to coming together next year, working on our skills and moving forward again," she said.

"It (premature end to season) definitely was disappointing because we were all excited, especially given North Wagga have come together as a team for the first time.

"We did a lot of preparation and hard work in a short period of time and would have liked to finish it off, especially as we didn't get a chance to test ourselves against CSU during the round games.

"I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't played footy here before, but I thought the Southern League was of a high standard, probably a bit higher than London."

The AFL London competition was due to begin this month, which means Barrett faces a long wait for her footy fix.

If she is home next year she plans on playing netball with Coolamon, where her brother Jake coaches, as well as football.

She is also also a former captain of NSW Waratah League basketball team Wagga Blaze.

A teacher by trade, Barrett is currently in limbo in Temora.

"I'm a teacher and not many kids are there any more, I don't have a job at the moment," Barrett said.

"I was teaching at the primary school there, mostly casual work because I was expecting to fly back to London.

"I'm going to train for a half marathon at the moment because there's nothing else to do."

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