Ivana Galic reckons she might have only seen her cousin Bianca three or four times a year when they were growing up.
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"But now she's out at my house every day, annoying me. I think sometimes she wants to kill me," Ivana laughed.
The pair of emerging stars are spending almost every waking moment together as part of Canberra United's squad in search of W-League glory.
The next step looms as their toughest test yet as second-placed Canberra prepare to face unbeaten Sydney FC in a top of the table showdown at Kogarah Oval on Monday afternoon.
Bianca is fresh off her W-League debut and there is little doubt she took the road less travelled to get here.
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The 21-year-old grew up in Sydney, and never came through any institute or academy before being lured to the capital by new United coach Vicki Linton as she looked to rebuild the club into a W-League force.
So one half of the Galic duo had landed a dream contract.
"Then I saw the ad on Facebook for the trials for Canberra United and I thought I should come along," Ivana said.
Soon enough Ivana was brought on board as a member of the club's wider training squad, and the rest is history.
"I've never actually had Ivana on my team before, but coming to Canberra has been a great treat and it's another friendly face I have around," Bianca said.
"I only have two girl cousins, Ivana and her sister, so they're both based in Canberra. Unfortunately for me, I would only see my only girl cousins if I travelled to Canberra.
"We would always see each other for family events, and because we're the same age, we do have a good connection. We talk about everything, life, soccer, work.
"It was fun, we couldn't see each other as much as normal cousins did. Obviously there was a big drive, and with work and all of our families playing sport on the weekend, we couldn't really see each other that much.
"But when there was a big event, communion, birthday, 21st, we'd always be there for each other.
"We normally text and FaceTime each other on the phone all the time away. It hasn't been much different."
United are preparing for a clash with a rampant Sydney outfit which has given up just one goal all season en route to five consecutive wins.
But Bianca has left no stone unturned on the training paddock in the hope she can spark an upset when she gets the nod from Linton, with her cousin Ivana there to push her every step of the way.
"From a young age we've always been competitive because we've both been the same age and played soccer," Ivana said.
"Whenever I'm up in Sydney, we'd try to have a kick and train together, but we've never actually been in the same team or even trained together in the same environment.
"It's really good training with her because I can read her very well. I can look at her face and ready her very well, I can understand what she's going to do next."
W-LEAGUE ROUND SEVEN
Monday: Sydney FC v Canberra United at Kogarah Oval, 4.35pm. Live on Kayo Sports.