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Collingwood midfield star Brit Bonnici has had two emotional returns to footy.<\/p>\n
The first, on the eve of the AFLW\u2019s inaugural season, came after Bonnici was concussed between five and eight times in a single season while playing for the St Kilda Sharks. She has openly talked about how in the worst of it, she couldn\u2019t remember where she was or even her own name and began to grieve her footy career. That rehab, she admits, was scary.<\/p>\n
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AFLW Collingwood player Brit Bonnici is about to play her 50th game.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n Then, after being drafted to the Magpies and playing five seasons, during which she earned an All-Australian blazer and became a stalwart of the midfield, she did her ACL in her sixth. It came just weeks after her skipper, Bri Davey, did the same injury, the pair spending more than a year on the sidelines and missing for almost two whole seasons.<\/p>\n Fast forward to now, where she will line up for her 50th game \u2013 a big feat in the AFLW with its much shorter seasons \u2013 against Gold Coast at Victoria Park on Sunday.<\/p>\n Rehab was a \u201cshit time\u201d, Bonnici says frankly, but it also gave her a new appreciation of the game and the ability to look at it differently.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess sometimes you\u2019ve got to give something to get something and unfortunately, I gave my knee to get the ability to see things in hindsight and to take a breath and whatnot. But also I think at the end of the day, it happened, and it could be really easy for me just to close the chapter on the last 18 months and say, \u2018Screw it, I\u2019m back. I\u2019m just going to go full guns blazing\u2019,\u201d said Bonnici.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the reality is, that\u2019s 18 months of my life. It\u2019s actually more powerful to lean into that and what it meant for me and what I learned throughout the time and I feel like it\u2019s sort of put me in good stead to be a better teammate and also, just to appreciate the game a lot more.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here for eight years … sometimes you do forget that raw passion for the game or the excitement of running out on game day or singing the song on the weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s a different person, and player, to when she was drafted. Coming in at 18, Bonnici was used mostly as a tagger for the first three years, which she says meant she never \u201chad to worry about what the team was doing as such or game plan\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mentality was just if I do my job, well, then the team will be better for it. Whereas now I understand that, you know, there\u2019s only so much your job can do if the others aren\u2019t clear in their role,\u201d said Bonnici.<\/p>\n In agony: Collingwood\u2019s Brittany Bonnici clutches at her knee during round eight. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>AFL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI was just very focused on what I was doing. Whereas now, one of the proudest spots of not even just my career, but my life, is being part of this footy club and being part of Collingwood.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, the men\u2019s team is successful now, but there were years where they weren\u2019t, and I understand what Collingwood has sort of built from, where they\u2019ve come from.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something really powerful in that. I really get joy out of understanding that I am a part of that now as well and that I can continue to grow it and in 100 years, you know, people are going to look back at the women\u2019s team, the way that we sort of look at the men\u2019s team of coming from nothing and being able to build themselves up.\u201d<\/p>\n So, throughout her bumpy ride from teenager to now 25 and a leader and senior figure at the club, is she proud of her journey so far?<\/p>\n \u201cI think like you have to be. Like, rehab is so shit, it really is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be so easy just to be the same person that I was before rehab and just close the door and say well, rehab was very hard, and it\u2019s done, but it allows you to be a better person, and it allows you to be a better teammate.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at the end of the day, footy is about connection and I have learned to be more connected than ever, and how can you not be proud of that?\u201d<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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