IN JUST 18 months Phoebe Monahan has gone from considering retirement to becoming a crucial cog in Brisbane's backline as it surged to the minor premiership.
Monahan played 10 games for Greater Western Sydney across 2018 and 2019 and added 12 for Richmond in two seasons before being "blindsided" when the Tigers delisted her.
Since being snapped up by Brisbane 12 months ago, the 29-year-old has played all 22 games available, fitting seamlessly into a backline that had just lost retired premiership captain Emma Zielke.
Ahead of Saturday's qualifying final against Richmond, Monahan told womens.afl she had some self-doubts before heading north – but they were all now a distant memory.
"Being in a high-level sport amongst other elite athletes you do get that performance pressure about whether you're good enough, and I was a little bit blindsided when I was delisted by Richmond," she said.
"At the time it did hurt, and I was considering retiring.
"I didn't enjoy that last season of footy and didn't want to play again."
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But a day after Monahan was axed, Brisbane's women's CEO Bree Brock and coach Craig Starcevich gave her a call.
Brock sold the dream on how the defender could fill the void left by Zielke, how high the club's standards were and how keen they were to have her.
"To be delisted by a team in the bottom three and to be wanted by the reigning premiers, it reinstated that belief in me that I could play," Monahan said.
"I made the call to move to Brisbane, which was a big call, I'd just bought a house in Victoria and had a good job.
"I didn't want to have any regrets, and thankfully I don't.
"Hopefully the best is yet to come … they've definitely turned me around in footy and life and I can't thank them enough."
Monahan had to serve two weeks in hotel quarantine before she could join her Lions teammates during pre-season.
She walked into a premiership team, full of big personalities, but immediately felt embraced.
Monahan has a background in the Australian Defence Force – where she was friends with Kate Lutkins – and has a passion for CrossFit. She loves to train and she loves to work hard, which immediately endeared her to her new teammates.
"Pre-season training at Brisbane is leaps and bounds harder than anything I've done at any club before," she said.
"With my background, I'm very disciplined to be the best I can be.
"It's definitely helped me reach new levels of my game and they've helped fill me with confidence.
"It's tough and hard and the girls push each other. It's definitely the reason why we're able to run over teams.
"We work hard for that style of game we play, which is a just a huge credit to the S&C staff and the work they do."
Monahan played all 12 games last season and has blossomed in season seven, using her powerful running to join in Brisbane's attacking waves.
Captain Bre Koenen said she always thought highly of Monahan.
"I thought she was always a really solid player, even when she played for GWS," she said.
"Phoebe is so solid in her one-on-ones. She just competes all day and there's a million clips every week where she's overlap running, she just works so hard.
"She's super consistent and I don't think she gets enough recognition."
That doesn't bother Monahan, who is happy working alongside Koenen, Lutkins, Shannon Campbell and Nat Grider in the Lions' backline.
She is now settled off the field as well, working as an instructor at Rocks CrossFit in Brisbane's western suburbs and building a network of friends away from the club.
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And now she's set to face her former club at Metricon Stadium in what she hopes will be a long run through November.
"They've presented us with tough challenges, but we've taken lessons from that round five loss," she said.
"We weren't happy with that performance and we'll definitely be keen to play our brand of footy on a good deck that suits us.
"Look out."
