Three years since tearing her ACL and undergoing a knee reconstruction, Chantel Jones is back in the red and white.

“I was itching to play,” Jones said.

“That love for football will always be within me and I’ve always wanted to help the girls and to prove it to myself that I could play again so that’s why I’m back this year.”

And play she has, now heading into Round 10 as the second highest goal scorer for Canberra Croatia FC, with 6 goals to her name this NPLW season.

“I love jumping back on the field and getting a run and feeling mentally and physically exhausted, instead of just mentally exhausted like you do in goal,” she said.

From stopping goals to scoring them, Jones spent the start of the year as a goalkeeper player/coach for Canberra United in the Westfield W-League, before moving into attack in the NPLW.

“It was unexpected to play in goals this Westfield W-League season, I was really looking forward to being a coach, and supporting Keeley (Richards) and Sally (James) but I’m willing to do anything for the team so I had to throw the gloves back on and knock the rust off a little bit.”

The Croatian side is now second on the NPLW ladder, with a four point goal difference with top placed Belconnen United.

“We’ve been training really well and we’ve been clicking and we’ve been scoring lots of goals which is all I could really ask for from the team. It’s just been a really good year and we’re feeling really strong.”

Canberra Croatia hosts Tuggeranong United at Deakin Stadium on Sunday 20 June, from 2.30pm.

“Tuggeranong is a good team, they haven’t had results go their way but we’ve always struggled with them,” Jones said.

“They’re very organised defensively and the have some key players who can really make a difference for them so for us we’re really trying to go out every week and focus on what we need to do, focus on our game plan, and where we need to be at the end of the season and get closer to that with every week.”