You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has a bad word to say about Brittany Bonnici.
An inaugural AFLW Magpie, the 26-year-old has been at the Club through all eight seasons.
A leader since day one, Bonnici is leading in her second year as an official vice-captain having just returned from an ACL injury.
Now, ahead of her 50th game this Sunday, Bonnici opens up on her journey as a Pie.
When asked what she’s most excited for ahead of her milestone appearance this week, Bonnici’s face immediately cracks a smile.
“All of my family is coming,” she grins.
“In terms of a game it’s very normal, but my Nan hasn’t been able to come to a game in three years nearly and she’s coming along with my whole family which is really special.
“Especially after my knee journey, they have to take a back seat for that and they see you go through it all feeling like crap.
“It’s almost a nice little moment for them to enjoy just being back and to all be there and watch a game. Playing 50 games is really cool but that’s the part I’m really excited for.”
Family and footy are heavily intertwined for the star Magpie.
Playing and loving the game from a young age, Bonnici’s family were there every step of the way, but for so long there was no pathway to take it further.
But as her dream was realised when the AFLW launched just as she was leaving her teenage years, Bonnici had her chance and a network of support behind her.
While they’re all special to her, there’s one family member that stands out as holding extra significance.
Bonnici’s Nan is that person – and she’s one of thereason’s behind the midfielder’s trademark helmet look.
“She literally won’t watch me play if I don’t wear my helmet,” Bonnici says.
“I had a few concussions before AFLW was even a thing and she made it pretty clear that she wouldn’t watch if I didn’t wear it.
“Me playing footy is her thing, she’ll tell everyone and if I have to wear a helmet for her feeling comfortable to watch me play then so be it.
“I can’t wear a knee brace so she really struggled when I came back for my first game and she told me she wasn’t going to watch Round One.
“She couldn’t help herself though, Pa was watching and she had no choice.”
So, with family so important to Bonnici, it’s no surprise it’s a key theme for her within the walls of the Club too.
Full of praise for the people within the Pies who make life easier and provide support, Bonnici says they’re why the team feels in such a strong position in the early stages of the season.
“We talk about being family a lot, specifically this group,” she says.
“There have been years we’ve missed the mark, but we’ve really got it right this year – there’s genuine care and I think that goes for the people here and the additional support networks as well.
“For Nan to come to this game, she needs a lot of support just to even get here and I had the conversation with Norm (Operations Coordinator ) around wanting her to be there but understanding there’s restrictions.
“Straight away he was like you ‘just tell me what you need’, so the people here are just special that we have.”
Her growth as a person and leader has been key throughout her years at the Club too.
Coming into Collingwood as an 18-year-old and now standing as one of the senior players in the side , Bonnici feels a responsibility in the way she holds herself.
“I was 18 when I came here and I get told I’m like a veteran now but I’m 26 – I have ages to play footy still,” she says.
“From the age of 18 to 26, you still grow a lot and I’ve been able to grow in this environment which almost makes you grow a little more.
“Ultimately, it’s up to us players to decide what we want to stand for and we’ve been able to do that this year.
“Part of being here for eight years is that you start to learn those things and get them together.
“We’re eight seasons in now so we have a good idea of the game and the AFL environment and what it means to be an athlete. You bring that with the understanding of people’s values and that has brought us together for the season.”
There’s a lot more to Bonnici than just footy though.
While all her adult life has been spent with Collingwood, there’s a myriad of external activities that have seen her blossom into the leader she is today.
Having studied a Bachelor of Social Work at University, Bonnici has always harboured a desire to help people.
As is the life of a AFLW athlete, the Pies deputy balances her training and football schedule with work away from the club which involves a range of social community programs helping members of the community reach their full potential.
“I’m a people person and I love facilitating growth in other people,” she says.
“The biggest moments for me that have changed and shaped me are other people helping me realise what I’m capable of andnot trying to show me it.
“Those moments have been really powerful for me, and I love being able to do that for other people.”
The Ladder Project Foundation, one of three programs Bonnici works with, sees her mentor and work with people on building their life skills to provide them with better personal and professional opportunities down the line.
“Ladder is really about helping young people who feel lost, disengaged and are helping them find their way,” she says.
“We do a lot of things that are skill based and we help empower them so they can take those skills to whatever they’re going to face in life and take those next step.
“We build them up so when we have those moments we have the tool kit and they don’t need to fall back on somebody else.”
Bonnici also works at a prison, spending time at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre and using those same skills of empowerment, but with a different group if people.
“The prison is very similar and I think that a lot of the people I work with in there just haven’t had that person prior to incarceration,” she says.
“I don’t think that they deserve to have the door slammed in them just because they’ve made a bad decision because I think everyone’s made bad decisions at some point in their life.
“Their situations are just unfortunately a bit more serious and there’s still a lot of ability to grow in their situation.”
To round it all out, Bonnici has recently started working with Collingwood’s own community program, the Magpie Nest.
As she reiterates, her work focuses on supporting disadvantaged people despite what life challenges they’re facing and she says the Club’s program is the perfect representation of that.
“The Magpie Nest is not just a tick box organisation, it’s helping people despite what they have going on,” she says.
“We are helping them and guiding them through (their challenges) and continuing to be a resource for them.
“There’s a lot of other organisations that have a lot of rules but the people in the Magpie Nest program don’t do well with rules because they’re going through things.
“They need people to support them so they can continue to take steps and I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the world who just takes steps forward, we all take steps back and unfortunately some peoples are larger steps back or stigmatised steps back.
“The Magpie Nest program doesn’t see that as an opportunity to kick them out, if anything, it’s an opportunity to bring them in.”
You might wonder how Bonnici has time for all this, but that’s what speaks to the brilliance of both the person and the player.
Everything’s intertwined, and it’s all helping her further her game.
“I think between the three of them and footy it puts me in a really good position to take skills from all of them,” she says.
“I try bring that mentality of ‘we’re going to do things wrong on the field and make wrong decisions.”
“We’re not going to get things right all the time, we’re not going to get our structures right, but being able move on from them really quick and making sure every player has enough resources for when they hit that moment to then deal with it, it is important.
Not keeping these two key aspects of her life separate are critical.
There’s a symbiotic relationship between Bonnici’s role role as a footballer which is not only helping the people she works with but is also helping the midfielder with her own football.
To the people she’s mentoring at work, Bonnici isn’t just another person there to try and help them – she’s a star footballer too.
“I’m working with really vulnerable people in the community and sometimes it’s pretty cool for them to just forget everything and just know they’re talking to a footballer,” she says.
“You can build rapport based off that and I walk into the prison and it’s cool to have a footballer in there instead of just another social worker.
“It probably really helps me to be able to take the two together and offer a point of difference.
“When I’m at work I’m a footballer and it doesn’t matter If I’m a good one or one that’s won or one that’s lost. It’s a really good reminder that what I’m doing is really cool.”
And on her own game: “I think my whole style of leadership has changed to be honest,” she says.
“I’m very tough love and straight forward, to the point, no excuses.
“I still have that mentality, but I now have the ability to create rapport and understand what aspects of that can work for other people, and where I do need to be a bit gentler.
“That’s come with growing up and I think that’s come with time in the environment and my work.”
Now, with a work-life balance that compliments her game, Bonnici is ready to take the competition by storm.
With a new knee and milestone game to win, Bonnici is as determined as she’s ever been to bring success to the Pies and says there’s no place she’d rather be.
“For me this has been eight years but for someone else that might only be one year, and I just want people to feel for this Cub what I’ve been able to feel,” she says.
“My experience is connection and relationships and I want to take that to every player.
“I’ve grown up a lot since I was that 18-year-old and this club has been that one constant.
“I chop and change things all the time and I get bored very easily but it’s never been like that here, I just genuinely love being here.”
“Why would I want to be in any other environment?”
Bonnici will run out for her 50th AFLW game this Sunday when the Pies take on the Gold Coast Suns at Victoria Park, 3.05pm.
Tickets can be found here for Sunday afternoon’s clash between Collingwood and Gold Coast.
