That started as a player when she made the shift from Auckland to Dunedin for university and got her first real taste of the sport.
Porter (nee Myers) played for Otago from 1998 to 2001 and went on to play 22 tests for the Black Ferns.
These days Porter is New Zealand Rugby’s head of women’s high performance, and previously served as the Black Ferns and Black Ferns sevens manager.
But her first real touches came as a back for the Spirit.
"It was an introduction to rugby, really, down there," Porter said.
"I made some really good mates, had a great time and even performance-wise managed to do pretty well for a pretty young group of players that we had down there."
Porter, who is at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, walked into a Spirit era packed with talent, including Black Fern hooker Farah Palmer.
"To be playing alongside them and learning off them was pretty special."
Porter forged strong relationships with her team-mates - two of whom were her bridesmaids - and caught up with the "old crew" at a Black Ferns reunion in Wellington in July.
"Particularly if you’re away from home, you end up being best mates.
"We had a Black Ferns reunion ... and there was a very strong crew of Otago Spirit girls there, so it was very cool to catch up with them."
Women’s rugby had been "a bit of a slow burn" through the years, but it was in good heart during her playing era.
"If you look back to the clubs that we had at the time, I was at varsity and we had three club teams, which if I look around at what’s happening now, the grassroots game was really strong, which was feeding particularly that national competition.
"Just the amount of, I suppose, young girls playing the game, and the opportunities that you got to travel the country ... and catch up with some other mates was pretty special."
The sport had made bigger strides in recent years. The Black Ferns Sevens’ sustained success and the World Cup in New Zealand in 2022 had been catalysts, she said.
"It’s pretty amazing to be involved with now a sport that is a genuine career opportunity for men and women.
"For a mum of two kids, that both my boy and my girl get equal opportunity to come through and if they choose that as a career, that they get to do that.
"Just the interest, and the opportunities, that the players get now ... I’m pretty proud to be involved with that."
And while her fingers are on the pulse of the game across the country, the Spirit was still at the top of her list.
"It’s certainly one of my favourite teams to follow in the Farah Palmer Cup.
"My favourite game, round one this year, was the North Harbour Otago Spirit game.
"They played some awesome rugby, threw the ball around. I suppose in the spirit of the DNA of what women’s rugby is - it’s that running game and they certainly showed that in the first round."
