IT IS still remembered as the most gruesome injury in the AFLW's history, but Brit Gutknecht has put her horror broken leg behind her to become a staple of the Western Bulldogs' new era.

The first ever AFLW match at Alberton Oval was meant to be a joyous occasion, but instead it remains the second-longest game in the League's history after a 20-minute pause in play as Gutknecht received care and was ultimately loaded into an ambulance.

Her Bulldogs won that game, but in her memory the result was secondary to a smother. On the eve of the half-time siren, Gutknecht was kicking down the wing as Port Adelaide star Abbey Dowrick came across to impede the ball.

There was no malice, but the results were ghastly.

Gutknecht broke both her tibia and fibula – both bones in her lower right leg – requiring surgery and a long stint on the sidelines.

"What happened to me was a freak accident," Gutknecht told AFL.com.au while shivering in the shadows of the Whitten Oval grandstand.

"I had to go away and work on the mental side of it, but there are some times when players get smothered in a certain way that I kind of wince a little bit. And there was a time I kicked the ball today and got a bit smothered and I kind of freaked out for a second. So it's still there, but I think I'm confident."

Gutknecht shows the resulting scars on her leg. Holes around her knee, and her ankle where a metal rod was inserted, then removed. Where her ligaments were checked. Where the bones were re-assembled.

"Like, literally, my bone was metal for a bit," Gutknecht said.

That was her 16th game of AFLW. She was just starting to find her feet at the level after being on the fringes of the Bulldogs' side, but that momentum was halted in a pretty significant way.

"The confidence after my injury wasn't there. I think before my injury, I started playing good footy, I was confident, and then I obviously injured myself and it took a little bit to get back," Gutknecht explained.

"I think it took me seven months to run again; it was a long time before I actually felt 100 per cent confident and fit. I think I got back to playing a year and two or four months, a year and two months maybe. But yeah, confidence, probably not for a year and a half, or two."

It was 392 days exactly between that smother, and Gutknecht's return to the field. But since that return, she has played every game possible and cemented her place in new coach Tam Hyett's version of the Bulldogs.

A move to a permanent defensive role last year has allowed her to flourish, settling in one place and helping to build the line. It saw her finish fifth in the club's best and fairest count and emerge as a long-term cog for the developing side.

"Last year, obviously being the first season in the backline, it was a learning experience for me, and I'm still learning, obviously, now, but I'm feeling more settled and confident. I know what's going on down there and I can start directing other people now," Gutknecht explained.

"I've played every position on the ground, I think, but the ruck. I think there was even one game I played on the wing, so it's nice to finally feel settled in a position and I think it utilises my strengths."

There's a building sense of optimism within the group. Five wins last season was the club's most since it made an elimination final in 2022 S7 – the year of Gutknecht's injury – and it landed some big scores along the way.

"I think last year we started slow, and if we had one or two more rounds, I think we were in the finals easily, so it was frustrating that we didn't make it last year, but I think we'll definitely push for them this year," Gutknecht said.

One thing is for sure, however. The white boots she was wearing that fateful day will never see another footy field.

"I still have them at home," Gutknecht said.

"But I would never put them on again."