Currently on a run of four consecutive golden boots, and off the back of a Player of the Season award in 2023, she has particularly excelled at Canberra Croatia, after previous high-quality seasons with Gungahlin United, and going back to her initial first grade experiences with Woden Valley in the early 2010s.

While she has achieved a lot in football, it took Palombi’s community introducing the sport to her, to kick-start her career.

“We lived out in Calwell and all our neighbours were boys, so we actually grew up playing rugby league with them,” she explained. “Then we moved to Campbell when I was six and across the road was a family of three boys and they were like, ‘do you guys want to play soccer,’ so we actually started playing soccer with them.”

As she continued to play the sport for enjoyment, Palombi’s growing recognition of her football ability motivated her to seek higher levels to compete in, having played above her age group throughout her junior career.

“I played more because I loved playing with my neighbours, and then as we started playing in more competitive leagues then I was like, ‘oh I’m not too bad at this,’” Palombi said. “Everyone who knows me knows that I’m very competitive, it runs in my family, so that’s where I was like, ‘I want to be good at this, I want to get better at this.’”

Moving into her first NPLW environment, Palombi was playing for Woden Valley where, after spending some time in the 18s age group and the Reserves squad, she began becoming a more regular face in the first-grade side at the age of 16 to 17.

“For my Sundays, I was there from 8:30 am until 5 pm,” she said. “I started in the Under-18s when I was 15, and then I’d sit on the bench for the reserves, and then sit on the bench for first grade, and if I got five minutes in first grade it was like the best day ever.”

Eventually working her way towards becoming a first grade regular for Woden Valley, Palombi says that the NPLW campaign where she had a greater contribution to the team was more memorable than her debut, with one moment particularly standing out as a highlight during her early career.

“It was the [2012] Grand Final and we were playing at Hawker Synthetic,” Palombi recalled. “I would’ve been 17, and we won it that year against Belconnen [United], they were very, very good, and that was my dad’s phone screen saver for eight years, it was just a really good day, and that’s probably one of my fondest memories, [because] it was my first proper year in first grade.”

Following on from her memorable 2012 campaign Palombi began to dominate the competition, always alongside her sister Ashleigh, who remained her closest goal-scoring challenger throughout the 2010s.

“From 2012 to 2017 my sister won the golden boot I think every year, and then I had a break in 2017 and 2018… and from 2019 to now, I’ve been the golden boot since then,” Palombi said.

The pair made up a formidable frontline in the capital, in a partnership that Palombi says often saw each sister continuously pushing the other to greater heights.

“We’ve always had a bit of competitiveness and rivalry with each other,” she said. “We were always known for getting a bit feisty with each other [during] games, but I think that’s where our competitiveness comes in, we always want the best for each other.

“I do feel like always playing with her, I was always Ash’s little sister, whereas I think when she moved to Sydney, I feel like I became more of my own person, but if she came back to Canberra, I’d play with her in a heartbeat, we were always a package deal, we would never play against each other ever.”

On the other side of her career break, Palombi’s move to Canberra Croatia in 2018 has yielded what she feels to be the best seasons of her career, highlighted by her admirable golden boot collection, which has gone side by side with plenty of trophies for the club.

As to how she has managed to consistently maintain these high-performance levels, Palombi says the quality of the footballers around her have contributed to her personal success.

“I would say 2020 or 2021 were probably my peak years,” she said. “Obviously it helps that I can put it in the back of the net, but I wouldn’t have gotten those chances without my team setting them up… I know that’s my name on the trophy, but it’s a team award.”

Alongside her football career, Palombi has been working as an accountant full-time for many years, and if there’s any spare time in between, spending time with friends and family is the focus.

“Outside of football and work I love the girls in the team, a few of them are my best friends so we hang out a lot,” Palombi said. “I’ve got a niece who’s 19 months old and she lives in Sydney, so I like to go up there, she’s my little best friend.

 “I play Oztag in summer, I love futsal as well, [so] I think by the time you add in family, my husband, friends, travelling, football and work, it takes up my whole time.”

Words: Sam Watson