Add CategoryGABBY Collingwood is ready to show the world she is a fighter.
The promising AFLW youngster will on Saturday make her debut with the Brisbane Lions, in their highly anticipated season opener against the Adelaide Crows.
The 19-year-old fresh face will be joined by fellow debutants Sophie Conway, Jordan Zanchetta and Arianna Clarke in the grand final rematch.
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All of them have endured their own personal battles to reach this career-changing moment.
Conway last year had to make the difficult decision to give up her beloved hockey so she could pursue her AFL dreams, while 22-year-old Zanchetta spent 2017 watching the inaugural AFLW season from the sidelines after tearing her ACL.
But Collingwood’s biggest hurdle came when she was nine-years-old.
Just days out from starting the fourth grade in 2008, a brain tumour was discovered on her right frontal lobe.
It had been causing her to have seizures and she had to undergo surgery.
While the magnitude of what she endured was lost on her at that young age, she says it has helped shaped into who she is today.
“There’s a fighter in me,” she said.
“I feel like it did change me a bit.
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“I didn’t really understand it at the time because I’d just had my ninth birthday. I had a bit of my hair shaved off and a big helmet on my head.
“Looking back, that was a big part of my life that I didn’t really understand. I still get check-ups now to make sure everything is going right.”
While it was a tough time for Collingwood, it did lead the avid Lions supporter to make the decision to start playing AFL.
When she was recovering at home, she was visited by former Brisbane captain and AFL great Jonathan Brown.
From there, her love of the game grew.
“He’s my original ‘JB’ ... it’s not Justin Bieber, it’s Jonathan Brown,” she said.
“He was my favourite, favourite player. He came to my house, had a chat with me and I had all my Lions gear on. I was shocked he actually came.
“I asked him so many questions. Him visiting made me really want to play.”
The former dancer will now fulfil her dream of wearing the Lions colours tomorrow after she was boosted from rookie status to the senior group on Wednesday.
Her opportunity has come at the unfortunate loss of defender Renee Cowan, who will miss the AFLW season after suffering a large medial meniscus tear on her left knee.
BRISBANE LIONS ROUND 1 TEAM
B: N.Hildebrand 22, S.Campbell 20, J.Stanton 17
HB: K.Ashmore 10, L.Kaslar 11, B.Koenen 3
C: E.Zielke 8
HF: K.Lutkins 13, S.Webb 4, K.McCarthy 9
F: J.Wuetschner 23, T.Randall 16, J.Zanchetta 7
Foll: S.Frederick-Traub 14, E.Bates 1, M.Hunt 6
I/C: A.Anderson 18, A.Clarke 21, G.Collingwood 28, S.Conway 12, B.Gibson 25
Emergency: Kalinda Howarth 19