INJURIES are never fun, and that was something Collingwood AFLW utility Jordan Ivey learnt the hard way.

Heading into last season things were looking promising for Ivey as her stint at Melbourne was starting to develop heading into its second season after crossing from Geelong, then things got derailed thanks to a chronic plantar fasciitis injury.

This meant Ivey was restricted to only three games in the 2023 season, and was ultimately delisted come seasons end.

Ivey describes that 2023 season as “incredibly frustrating personally for myself.”

“Obviously I’d love to provide and be of value for the team, and so I felt like being in rehab quite a lot of that season that I wasn’t able to do that for my side,” Ivey said.

“So I would try and do that off field as much as possible and just probably put my head down and make sure that I’m getting all of my rehab done and I’m crossing every T and dotting every I in that aspect.

“But obviously you play AFLW to play games at footy, so trying to get myself up for games was challenging with my foot injury, and I think deep down inside, I knew that I had the ability to play at that level and wanted to get there, but I felt like my injury was definitely hindering me in that sense, so I probably wasn’t able to produce what I know I can produce and that probably adds to the frustration, but I guess I still have the belief that I can play at that level.”

Although she was understandably upset at having been delisted, Ivey was reflective of the bigger picture around the decision.

“I was just really sad about being delisted, mainly just because I’ve made so many great connections at Melbourne. I’ve got so many good friends there and it felt like a family,” Ivey said.

“But delisting is a part of the industry and it happens to a lot of people, so I have no bad blood with Melbourne. I absolutely love that club and I still have so many great friends there and I’m looking forward to bumping into them this week.”

Despite the heartbreak of being delisted, Ivey never fully lost hope that she would be back at AFLW level.

“I thought that I had the ability to play at this level so I think that internal drive has helped me get back in,” Ivey explained.

“I honestly haven’t stopped training since I was delisted in the hopes that I could get back to playing, and yes, there’s been heaps of closed doors for me, but I guess something inside of me just didn’t make me stop. I wanted to keep going and keep showing people that I could play.”

That hope and determination has paid off for Ivey, getting the call up as an injury top up player for Collingwood this season and has now played a large chunk of the Pies’ matches this season.

It all started though with her being signed to Collingwood’s VFLW program ahead of its 2024 campaign.

“Pretty much as soon as I was delisted from Melbourne, I think two days later, I was getting phone calls from Tom Cashin, the VFLW coach at Collingwood,” Ivey explained.

“So he was just on the phone probably quite consistently until I finally said yes, I’d come down to training. So I went down there and met him and some of the squad that he’d started to put together, and he wanted me to come down and do whatever I needed to do to get my foot and body right to play whenever I was ready.

“They were really patient with me and allowed me to do my rehab throughout most of the VFLW season and I ended up getting myself right for the back end of that.”

After the VFLW season ended, Ivey initially went back to former club Geelong to do some train on work there, and described the experience as “really nice to reconnect with some of the people I used to play with down there and the staff members.”

But then came a phone call that would change the course of her season.

“I think I’d got back from a Geelong training and then it was late on that Tuesday night that Jess rang from Collingwood and said could I come in that week because they’ve had quite a few injuries,” she said.

“I was emergency for that first game, so just did the emergency routine where you sort of warm up in the rooms with with the squad and then the following week, the numbers were still quite low so I ended up being picked to play against Brisbane.

“It was honestly just a bit of a whirlwind. I wasn’t expecting sort of a phone call from anyone really to play this year, but I don’t know, always in the back of my mind I was thinking I want to keep my body fit and firing just in case something was to happen. So I’m really glad that I put in the work away from the club and focused on my own game and my own body.

“I’ve absolutely loved being a part of the Collingwood AFLW program. It’s been incredibly nice to be back playing at that level and they’ve got a great culture a great little family.”

The multi talented footballer has come a long way since initially falling in love with the sport through her dad’s influence.

“He was playing footy for South Bendigo when I was born, so he was still connected to the footy club there and I was always going down to the footy with him, so I’d end up running through the change rooms and kicking the ball around and just being an absolute nuisance,” Ivey said.

“He ended up retiring and then doing the running for South Bendigo, so I still stayed around the footy club and I think that’s probably where my love for footy definitely started.”