Gabrielle "Gabby" Collingwood (born 15 January 1999) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

(AFLW).

Junior and state football

Collingwood started playing Australian rules football in May 2011, with the Forest Lake Dragons. She played three years with the Jindalee Jags, including with the boys' squads. Following that she was selected to play with the under-17

Brisbane Flames Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in the 2012 Under 17 Youth Girls State Championships. She was also a member of the Sunfire Academy and of the

Academy. Collingwood played for

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

in the

AFL Queensland Women's League There are five senior women's AFL leagues in Queensland governed by AFL Queensland. The Queensland Australian Football League Women's (QAFLW) is the highest league in the State and provides elite women footballers the opportunity to play in ...

(QWAFL). Collingwood represented Queensland at the

2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2017 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2017, with six teams competing and with a further three playing in a two-match round-robin series as a de facto Division 2. An Allies side (made up of players from ...

and was selected for the initial 54-person All-Australian squad, but didn't make the final team.

AFLW career

Collingwood was drafted by Brisbane with their first selection and seventh overall in the 2017 AFL Women's rookie draft. She said that

Craig Starcevich Craig Starcevich (born 16 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL/AFL. He is the only person in Australian rules football history to win both an AFL and an AFL Women’s premiership, having won the latter as co ...

is the best coach she ever had. She made her debut in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

's twelve-point win over

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Norwood Oval Norwood Oval (currently known as Coopers Stadium due to sponsorship from the Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery) is a suburban oval in the western end of Norwood, an inner eastern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is owned by Norwood, Payn ...

in the opening round of the 2018 season, along with debutants

Sophie Conway Sophie Conway (born 6 April 1999) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Conway was raised in Bracken Ridge, Queensland and attended St Rita's College. She was a talented hockey ...

, Jordan Zanchetta, and

Arianna Clarke Arianna Clarke (born 6 April 1999) is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's. Early life Clarke was born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. At the age of 13, she moved to the Gold Coast and ...

. In April 2019, Collingwood re-signed with Brisbane Lions for the 2020 season. In March 2023, Collingwood was delisted by Brisbane Lions.

Personal life

At the age of nine, Collingwood went through surgery to remove a

brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...

from her right

frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove betwe ...

. While she was recovering,

player Jonathan Brown visited her, which inspired her later to play Australian rules football. From a young age, she was a Brisbane Lions supporter.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collingwood, Gabby 1999 births Living people Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Queensland