IT’S 7am, one morning before the Christmas break, and Bianca Jakobsson is ready to go.
It’s not on the training track, on this occasion, but on a building site at Clyde, in Melbourne’s outer south-eastern suburbs, where she is assisting her carpenter brother, Adam, a few days each week.
There hasn’t been much of a turnaround for Jakobsson, who didn’t get into bed until 11:30pm the night before, after training in the city with Melbourne and then driving home, towards the Mornington Peninsula.
Up at 6am, Jakobsson said it was “pretty tough” combining work and football training, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love what I do, and I love football, and you have to work as well,” she said.
“I was doing signwriting for a few years, but this work coincides a little bit better with football, so I can have a little bit of time off during the week to recover from the training sessions.
“I look forward to it every week. He goes a bit easier on me at times, so it’s good. It works well with football and it’s pretty great to work with your brother.”
Although she has been working with her brother, she has now just started studying exercise and sports science.
“I’ve starting uni this year, studying a bachelor of sports science,” she said.
“That’s something I’ve always been really passionate about.
“I really want to do that moving forward and with football, it’ll really coincide with it.”
Jakobsson, who grew up in New South Wales, moved to Victoria when she was 10 years old. Although basketball, swimming and athletics were her main sports growing up, she also played football in the backyard with her brother and had a kick at school.
It was from there that her footy took off.
“One of the girls [at school] said ‘hey, you’re all right, come down and play’. That was at Narre [Warren] South and then I went down and played a couple of games and I haven’t looked back since,” Jakobsson said.
“The basketball skills transferred pretty well over to AFL footy.
“I’ve always loved footy, so it was a pretty easy choice when I thought of what to give up between basketball and football. I’m very glad I made that choice.”
Jakobbson, who will also play for Casey Demons (previously Cranbourne, her former team) in the VFLW after the AFLW season, said crossing to Melbourne from Carlton at the end of the inaugural 2017 AFLW season felt like the right move.
“I had a really great first year and I’ve learned a lot, but since the move to Melbourne, I’ve learned even more,” she said.
“I met with the club, [coach] Mick [Stinear] and [former Melbourne women’s general operations manager] Deb [Lee] at the time. They just put a really good presentation forward to me and it really looked like a club I wanted to join.
“It was really appealing and I felt like I could really grow [at Melbourne] – and grow my football, so it seemed like the perfect fit. I haven’t looked back since the move.”
And although Jakobsson played for the Blues and supported Carlton growing up (her favourite players were Chris Judd and Anthony Koutoufides), she has relished her time already in the red and blue.
“I just really fit into the environment at Melbourne,” she said.
“I find it really professional and everyone is there for the same reasons. We’re all putting in 110 per cent, and there is just so much support around, with the coaches and the extended support staff.
“It’s been really incredible and something I’ve found I fit really well into. Everyone has impressed me. I’ve really, really enjoyed since I’ve come across.”
