After more than 12 months on the sidelines, Essendon midfielder Georgia Nanscawen is finally ready to ply her trade at AFLW level in 2023.

Nanscawen made history as the Bombers’ first-ever AFLW signing last season, but was forced to watch their inaugural season from afar after suffering a shattering ACL tear in the club's 2022 VFLW grand final victory.

Speaking on the Chicks Talking Footy podcast, the two-time VFLW Lambert-Pearce medallist said the desire to support her teammates as a leader off the field helped push her through the rehabilitation process.

“When you don’t have to focus so much on your own performance, you can be there a bit more for other people and have some of those tough conversations. When people miss selection or have a rough time, you can offer more support there,” Nanscawen said.

“Being a VFLW co-captain and part of the leadership group for a couple of years, I wanted to bring some of that to the AFLW group.

“It probably wasn’t the way I expected to get to lead, but I just tried to set a good example for not only the other girls in rehab, but the girls on field about resilience and persistence.”

More than a year removed from the knee injury, Nanscawen has returned to full training with the Bombers over the past two months and is back at full fitness with the 2023 season fast approaching.

The excitement of returning to the promising young group has held the former Olympic Hockeyroo in a great headspace throughout the pre-season.

“Physically I’m feeling very good and I got the tick of approval from the surgeon, so from a knee perspective, things are great. I’m just really excited to be finally in amongst the team which was quite a long time coming,” Nanscawen said.

“As much as you want to try to be a part of it, when you’re in rehab it’s quite an isolating space, so to be out with the girls on the field feels really good.

“Round one will no doubt creep up very quickly, it’s just nice to be out there and it’s an exciting time.”

The Bombers enter their second season in the competition looking to build upon the glimpses of potential shown in 2022, with Nanscawen’s experience set to add another string to their bow.

Ahead of the new season, Nanscawen believes the Bombers are ready to take more palpable strides as their development continues.

“We’re still building that foundation and culture that we want to put out there. We’re quite vocal that we weren’t satisfied with last year, you could make the excuse that it was our first year together, but we were disappointed not to be pushing for finals,” Nanscawen said.

“This year we firmly believe we can challenge. Those results will just be an indication of the work we’ve put in through the off-season.

“We know we have a lot of work to do to close that gap (between us and the top sides), and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do.”