LAUREN Young is finally ready to play in an AFLW Showdown, third time around.

The South Australian has been desperate to play in the state's showcase game, but her knee has held her out of both previous chances over the past few years.

Growing up an Adelaide fan but part of Port Adelaide's junior academy, Young knows how important a place in the Showdown holds in the hearts of locals.

"Ellie Hampson (a Queenslander) was asking us about the history of the Showdown yesterday – she knows it's important, but not the relevance of it," Young told AFL.com.au.

"Growing up in Adelaide, supporting both of those clubs (in different ways), it's so insane I actually get to play against one of them and for the other one. But I'm definitely a Port girl now.

"Playing with the likes of 'Juzzy' (Mules-Robinson) and Ash Woodland, when I grew up watching them, it's so incredible. I've grown up watching every Showdown, we always made sure we went as a family. One year we were in New Zealand and even then we made sure to watch it."

Young's trajectory has been well-told. 

A star tall junior who could play across all three lines, she took out SANFLW's best and fairest – playing against senior women – as a 15-year-old in 2021, and was named South Australia's U19 MVP the same year, having needed special dispensation to even play in the tournament.

But injury struck with a right ACL at the end of that year, which ruled her out of her final year of junior football, before being added by Port Adelaide as an expansion signing at the end of 2023.

Then the left ACL gave way in March 2024, having managed to play a few games for West Adelaide in the SANFLW in the meantime.

The recovery from the second ACL – which saw her finally make her debut in round six, 2025 – was a good 18 months long.

"Once you've done one, they say it's 20 per cent more likely to do the other leg, so now I've done the crime and done the time," Young said with a laugh.

"We didn't realise until the eighth month of recovery that there was a torn meniscus as well. We thought the pain had been just how knees are with rehab, but there was one day where I just couldn't run at all, so we got it sorted and it turned out it was torn.

"Then I had an infection with that too. My patella was irritated by gym work, I had to have scar tissue chopped out. I don't think I had a decent knee for 16 months, every day there was a bit of pain and I never knew if it would come good.

"I want to say I had four ops on that knee. The other knee was just the one and it was such a smooth run, yet this one was so complicated.

"For a moment there I didn't actually think I'd be able to get back to where I was, because there were so many things happening with my knee. But it's really nice to have some relief, knowing they're all good now and I can play without having to worry about them.

"I had a full pre-season where I could learn everything, get my fitness up and just be around the group, and it's helped so much."

To have gone from 'Lauren Young the kid wonder' to a player who couldn't get on the park for several years was a comedown, but it was something the ever-cheerful and bubbly forward took in her stride.

"It was a pretty difficult time, probably one of the hardest I've ever gone through. But I always knew in my head, if I showed up with a good attitude, if I did the right things, it would all fall into place," Young said.

"I say this to anyone who's done an ACL – 12 or 18 months is a really long time to be miserable, so there's no point going there. 

"Doing the first one, I knew all the girls at Westies so it made life a lot easier. But the second, when I came to Port for the first time, I had to go straight to the (rehab) gym, so I didn't spend a lot of time with them for the first year and a half.

"I kind of love how things have happened, in a way. I didn't have a choice, but I don't regret doing the ACLs because they were such a good learning experience. When something minor, or even major, happens now, I'm so calm about it because it's not worse than an ACL." 

Young's difficult last few years were also compounded by digestive issues, but she's now found what diet works for her and has been inspired to commence study in the space.

"I had a lot of gut problems and health issues and I was looking into what I could do to help that. I was searching up different food and I realised I really enjoyed meal prepping on a Sunday, and thought it might be good to do as a career," she said.

"I had a look, and Flinders Uni has a nutrition and dietetics course, so I'm now in the first year of that degree and I love it.

"I've had to cut dairy, I don't really eat it anymore, and I have gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining). I was a very picky eater anyway and didn't eat a lot of food with sugar.

"The course has been really helpful for my footy too. It feels like everyone's afraid of a carb, but that's our main fuel source, and protein and when to eat it is so important too."