Through the first two seasons, Collier, who also juggles two jobs, has donned the orange guernsey 11 times, a tally she hopes to add to after a big pre-season.

“Our pre-season has been really solid and probably our best yet, when you combine the new girls we’ve added and that it’s most of the girls third year at doing this,” Collier said. “The skill level before Christmas was much better than it was at the end of last year and since then, we’ve all taken it to another level. The main reason for this is that we have the same coach [Alan McConnell] as last year, meaning we can build on all our structures from last season.

“Although it’s been really tough, I can’t believe it’s already over – it feels liked I’ve blinked and it’s already round one.”

As well as gruelling sessions, Collier and her Giants have played in a practice match with the Brisbane Lions, as well as an intra-club trial, to prepare them for this weekend’s season opener against the Lions on Sunday at Moreton Bay.

“Against the Lions, we recorded a good win up in Queensland – I think training in the heat in Western Sydney really helped us cope with the hot temperatures up there,” Collier said.

“Although they played their full list of players, a lot of them were out of position, so you can’t read too much into that going into our round one clash with them – we definitely aren’t going to underestimate the Lions.

“Following the Lions game, which was a solid first hit-out, we played a scrappy intra-club – which was expected, as we all know our team structures and how each other plays.

“Personally, I was happy how I played and I thought I did my role well – which is one of my main goals this year. As a whole, both these matches gave us all a chance to impress the coaches for selection in round one.”

This season, Collier, 23, has been deployed on the half-forward flank – a position she hasn’t played too much during her AFL career, after having stints in the backline and midfield in previous seasons.

“Going into the pre-season, I didn’t really have any expectations where I wanted to play this year,” she said.

“But the coaches explained to me that they thought I could thrive on the half-forward flank.

“I was open to the idea and now after playing there for a couple of weeks, I’m really enjoying it and think it suits my style of play.”

Collier said their biggest aim will be to create more inside 50s to boost their goalscoring avenues.

“We all know we didn’t kick enough goals to win games last year,” she said.

“So we really want to create more chances this season and put our key forwards in better positions to kick goals and put scoreboard pressure on. If we can do that as a group, we know we can improve on last season’s fourth place finish.”