IT WASN'T long ago Emma Zielke was laid up in a hospital bed with three fractured ribs and a punctured lung.
The Brisbane Lions AFL Women’s captain sustained the horrific injury in September's NAB AFLW State of Origin match, and unable to fly home, was forced to stay in Melbourne for the first week of her recovery.
Describing the pain as the worst she'd ever experienced, Zielke has steadily improved and says there will be no mental roadblocks when the season begins next week.
"I was in hospital for a week and wasn't allowed out of my bed," Zielke said.
"The doctors said they [the ribs] would take 12 months to fully recover. They were quite badly displaced.
"It was going to be a long process."
With teammate Emily Bates keeping her company, Zielke endured a 36-hour train trip from Melbourne to Brisbane – via Sydney – in excruciating pain.
She had two weeks off work, going "insane" while not being able to do anything, but once given the green light to exercise again, slowly start rebuilding her fitness.
The 29-year-old midfielder was on hand for day one of pre-season in November and has done most of the fitness work, adding contact work in the new year.
"Mentally I was wondering if it was going to be an issue through the season and how much pain I'd be in each game, but the more and more contact training I've done, the more confident I've become," she said.
"I don't even want a follow-up x-ray because I know they're feeling good.
"It's healed really well.
"I haven't copped anything bad in that area and I'm sure that's going to happen eventually.
"I've had padding on for match practice but I don't really think about it. Mentally I'm pretty well prepared for when a big hit comes."
Zielke conceded she had pulled out of some tricky situations at training that might expose her to a hit, but when perched under a high ball in last Saturday's practice match against Greater Western Sydney, didn't move and didn't flinch on contact.
She said she was prepared for extra attention if it came her way in the round one Grand Final rematch against Adelaide.
"It's going to be interesting to see how opposition treats me.
"[Adelaide coach] Bec Goddard was coaching in that State of Origin game, so she knows all about it.
"When it's in game-play there's so much adrenaline you don't notice it anyway."
Despite losing heavily against the Giants at the weekend, Zielke was confident the Lions would turn things around and be a force again in 2018.
"We're trying to build from 2017, take the really good parts from last year to keep our reputation going as a hard-nut team.
"Every team now knows the intensity you need to train and play at. We can't wait."
