I think we're allowed to call Jess Fishlock immortal now

A word I keep coming back to

Immortal. It's a word we throw around far too loosely in sport. A hat-trick in a pre-season friendly - "immortal". A volley in the League Cup second round - "immortal". We've cheapened it. But every now and then someone does something that genuinely earns the adjective, and you sit there on your sofa thinking: yeah, that one counts.

What I'm actually getting at

Jess Fishlock is 39 years old. Thirty-nine. She came off the bench on Saturday night for Seattle Reign, and in the 85th minute - with Bay FC having clawed back a two-goal deficit to level at 2-2 - she did what she's been doing since most of her teammates were learning to tie their boots. She scored. Winner. Three points. Her 50th regular-season NWSL goal, making her just the tenth player in the league's history to reach that mark.

Fifty goals across a career in a league that has never once stood still. Think about how many clubs have folded, rebranded, relocated. The NWSL has reinvented itself repeatedly, and Fishlock has just kept scoring through every version of it.

The bit where I'm supposed to be balanced

Look, I'll concede the obvious. Seattle are ninth. They're outside the playoff places on tiebreakers, clinging on with 23 points, level with Orlando and Angel City. Nobody's handing them the trophy. And Bay FC, for all their struggles down in 14th, showed real guts to fight back from 2-0 down inside ten minutes. Hannah Bebar's curler into the top corner deserved better than to end up on the losing side.

But this isn't really about the standings, is it?

The actual point

This is about a 39-year-old Welsh international - a genuine pioneer of the women's game - refusing to become a sentimental passenger. There's no testimonial-year energy here. She didn't trudge on for a guard of honour and a gentle tap-in. She came off the bench with ten minutes left and decided the match. That's not nostalgia. That's ruthlessness.

Maddie Dahlien set up the opener and scored the second. Mia Fishel looked sharp. Seattle have young talent coming through. And yet when it mattered - when the comeback was complete and momentum had swung violently the other way - it was the oldest player on the pitch who steadied the whole thing with one strike.

I'm biased, obviously. I've always had a soft spot for athletes who refuse to read the memo about their own decline. There's something gloriously stubborn about it (probably because I recognise the trait in myself, minus the athleticism, the talent, and the career).

Immortal - but actually this time

Fifty NWSL goals. Ten players in history. Still decisive at 39. If that's not enough to earn the word, I don't know what is.

Immortal. And I mean it this time.