Gabby up for a fight

GABBY Collingwood is ready to show the world her fighting spirit.

The promising AFLW youngster will tomorrow make her debut with the Brisbane Lions, in their season-opener against the Adelaide Crows.

The 19-year-old will be joined by fellow debutants Sophie Conway, Jordan Zanchetta and Arianna Clarke in the grand final rematch.

All of them have endured personal battles to reach these career-changing moments.

Conway last year had to make the difficult decision to give up her beloved hockey so she could pursue her AFLW dreams, while the 22-year-old Zanchetta spent 2017 watching the inaugural AFLW season from the sidelines after tearing her ACL.

Collingwood’s biggest hurdle came when she was nine.

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 shape her into who she is today.

“There’s a fighter in me,” she said. “I feel like it did change me a bit.

“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.’’