IT'S A very different Jess Allan who will be donning Adelaide's jumper in 2023 than the one who last wore Crows colours in 2018.

The now-23-year-old had been selected by the Crows with the top South Australian pick after the side's inaugural premiership triumph, the same draft that saw the likes of Monique Conti, Chloe Molloy, Izzy Huntington and Jenna Bruton join the competition.

She played four games in the ruck in 2018, before making the call to join the army. It meant she sat out of the 2019 season, a big call to make as a 19-year-old.

But her maturity and level-headedness have always been evident, and she was a clear standout in pre-draft media interviews with her eloquent and thoughtful answers.

"The club itself hasn't changed much. I've definitely noticed how much I've grown up since I was here last, and how much the girls I used to play with have evolved, in both the footy and personal space," Allan told womens.afl.

"I've always wanted to join. Growing up, we didn't really have much family in the defence force, then my older sister Megan joined when I was in year 12. I saw a bit of the system and what she went through, so it was definitely motivation as well.

"I was always meant to go to the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) after school, that was always my plan. When I got drafted in 2018, I was lucky enough to defer for a year. I stayed in Adelaide, gave uni a crack (a bachelor of sport health and physical activity), and then decided I still really wanted to pursue the army. 

"I really wanted to pursue my career first, because hopefully football would always still be there for me. I was at ADFA for three years, I did a bachelor of arts, with business and English majors. It's a military uni and you do training there as well, which helps you progress into the Royal Military College (RMC) at Duntroon."

The move to Canberra meant Allan – the younger sister of three-time All-Australian Adelaide defender Sarah – was traded to Greater Western Sydney ahead of the 2020 season, adding 14 games with the Giants up until the end of 2021.

Her training continued at RMC in 2022, but the added commitments and intensity meant AFLW was impossible, and she once again opted to sit out not just one, but two seasons last year.

"I was very lucky with the way the (2020 and 2021) seasons had worked was pre-season was over summer, so I was able to live in Sydney for most of summer, and only have to travel back and forth between Canberra and Sydney once the uni year had started," she said.

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"RMC is essentially a leadership college. I was fortunate because it was live-on style accommodation, but it definitely helped me grow up quickly, being away from family. RMC is a very different training lifestyle, you go out on field for a lot of the year, and it teaches you to face a lot of challenges and deal with those processes to deal with it.

"It was a constantly changing schedule. You work long days, both in the classroom and then physical training, as well as battle conditioning and combat training. So the whole point is the College teaches you how to learn all the basics as a soldier, and then all the skills you then need to lead them. You can't lead people if you don't know what you're doing." 

Having now completed her training, Allan is a lieutenant, and has transferred back to Adelaide with the medical corp. She lives on base working as a medical officer, but said she may as well be living with Sarah, such is the amount of time she spends at her sister's place.

"I'm a general service officer, which means I manage doctors, nurses and medics, but I obviously don't have clinical guidance. I manage everything outside of the medical field, so on a day-to-day basis, I'm a platoon commander, I'm in charge of welfare, wellbeing, organising training and leadership opportunities," Allan said.

"I love it. It's definitely a lot of responsibility, and in my job, I'm in charge of people a bit older. It definitely challenges me, but I enjoy it. It adds a dynamic, but it's part of the whole reason I went to ADFA, because I thought it was a chance to go to uni, spend four years away, and give myself a chance to grow and mature from who I was."

Allan is loving being back on the field, having represented family SANFLW club Central Districts in the lead-in to pre-season, where father Keith played 69 games. When Jess and Sarah were at separate AFLW clubs, they both wore Keith's No.39 on their backs.

The Crows have been blessed with a steady pipeline of top rucks coming through their junior ranks since Allan, meaning she will be competing with Caitlin Gould, Montana McKinnon and Zoe Prowse for game-time.

"It's been good to get some games back in, because I missed a fair bit last year. I've loved being able to get back into footy and play with those girls out there," Allan said.

"Last year I lost a bit of touch. I don't think it took too much to get me back into it, I feel like I've been on and off with sport before as a kid, going from basketball to footy all the time.

"I've been playing ruck and forward, I've been trying to develop a bit more and add a few more strings to my bow, to give me a few more options to hopefully take to the field this year.

"There's a lot of height at the Crows, and a lot of skilled rucks as well, so it'll add some complexity to the year, but I'm really excited to work with a lot of the girls and build off each other. I've been really focused on that forward-line space as well, just because I want to push myself in more than one position."