The six months leading into an Olympic gold-medal defence is a chaotic period for any athlete.

But Chloe Dalton’s preparation is busier than most.

On Friday night, Dalton will kick off her second AFLW season with Carlton, less than six months before she hopes to line up for Australia’s Olympic rugby sevens team in Tokyo, having recently committed to return to the sport.

“I’ve started training part time for the rugby sevens while I’m here in Melbourne,” Dalton told AAP.

“So I’m doing that three to four days a week – doing about six days of gym a week at the moment, three days of rugby and doing some extra pilates in there as well on top of obviously all the AFLW training.

“So it’s a bit of balance and training will wind down a little bit as we head into season so that the body can stay in good shape and I don’t burn out.”

Carlton and Rugby Australia’s strength and conditioning teams collectively devised a plan for Dalton, who will return to Sydney after the AFLW season and aim to get two sevens World Series tournaments under her belt before Tokyo.

Dalton, playing every game in her first AFLW season, is aiming to kick on from a positive start to life as a winger.

“It was just (about improving) that 360-degree awareness and positioning and trying to work out where to be and when – and trying to be more proactive in finding where to be, rather than just reacting to where the footy was going,” she said.

Dalton said she hoped the kicking skills – specifically her drop punt – and positional awareness she’d gained from football would help her in her kicker role in sevens.

But beyond a potential Olympic berth, the 26-year-old is unsure where her future lies.

“I haven’t really made a decision past that,” Dalton said.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty big six, seven months as it is, just doing this AFLW season and then hopefully to make the team for Tokyo 2020.

“Then I’ll probably make a decision once I get to that point, what’s going to be next.”