If you're good enough, you're old enough and there's no doubt 15-year-old Matildas bolter Mary Fowler thinks she's both.
"I want to be the best in the world," Fowler told AAP after her call-up to the Australian squad for next week's Tournament of Nations.
"And to be the best in the world I need to be training with the best, playing with the best and playing against the best.
"That's what this tournament is going to allow me to do."
"I'm really happy that I'm a part of this."
Fowler has emerged from almost total obscurity to thrust herself into the Matildas ranks and, potentially, women's World Cup calculations.
The Cairns product is fresh from scoring 10 goals in six games for the Young Matildas at the AFF Women's Championship.
Nations at the tournament fielded their full senior teams - except for Australia, who sent their under-20s.
Fowler, the youngest player of them all, looked right at home at that level, netting both goals as the Young Matildas fell 3-2 in the final to Thailand and finishing as the golden boot.
She will now get her chance against three of the world's best women's football countries - Brazil, the United States and Japan.
"It's all in the head," Fowler said.
"You just have to be mentally ready and if you are age doesn't matter.
"You look at ability, not age. If you're ready, you can do anything.
"You don't look at me and think I'm a 15-year-old."
Matildas coach Alen Stajcic rates Fowler as the most talented prospect he's seen in women's football.
"She's certainly got that instinct for goal, it's really profound," Stajcic told AAP.
The good news for Australia is there's more where that came from.
Born to an Irish father and a Papua New Guinean mother, Fowler is part of a prodigiously-gifted football family - brothers Quivi and Seamus, and sisters Ciara and Louise are also budding footballers.
Quivi, 19, recently signed for second-tier Dutch outfit FC Dordrecht and is being tracked by several European powerhouse clubs.
Ciara, 17, is also on the Young Matildas radar.
Both Quivi and Ciara have played for Ireland at youth international level.
"All my brothers and sisters, they all want to be the best," Fowler said.
"We push each other every day and we want to improve.
"It's easier because we have very supportive parents and we're very lucky for that.
"We train every day and we've been doing that since I can remember.
"It's really something special."
Australian Associated Press
