But now the moment has arrived, he can't wait to see what she can do for his team on the big stage.

The 19-year-old from Launceston didn't see out her one and only game at the level, rupturing her ACL in round 1 last year for the Western Bulldogs, but impressed before that incident, especially with her pressure.

It's that aspect of her play that Gowans will be looking for from the forward against Collingwood at Marvel Stadium on Saturday,

"It is unbelievable really that she is back, but she has just worked so hard in her rehab,'' he said.

"If I am being honest I didn't think she'd get up this soon, but she decided 'no that wasn't going to be the case'.

"We had a chat mid-November and I said to her you have to tick everything off with the high performance team and they will give you a program and at every stage as soon as you have a setback, it is probably curtains.

"She said no worries and just went ahead and just flew through it, so it is a credit to her.

"A criteria was that she had to spend two weeks up here (in Melbourne), so we could tick it off as I wasn't able to have eyes on her in every session down in Tassie and she also played a VFLW scratch match and did very well with that.

"And it is a credit to her as she has ticked every box."

Gowans confirmed she would play forward, although he admitted he would love to see her in the midfield, but knew he would have to wait until next year to have that wish granted.

She will likely get 60-70 per cent game time.

She comes into the team with defender Taylor Mesiti, with Gowans saying the duo would deliver the pressure the Roos were lacking last week in their loss to Adelaide, as they are both "hard-bodied nose over the ball players".

They replace Wynyard's Emma Humphries and forward Courteney Munn, with Chloe Haines, also of Wynyard, one of the emergencies and Clarence's Nicole Bresnehan to miss at least another week with her wrist injury.

Gowans said he was looking forward to seeing how his highly-touted side responded to their first loss of the season, especially as another loss could end their year, and said there would be one key area of focus against the winless Pies.

"We just have to win that inside ball, and Collingwood are actually ranked in the top couple when it comes to their inside ball work, so with the contested possession, we need to win that.

"We are a big uncontested side because of the way we play the game, as we like to get a Jess Duffin there to intercept and then control the ball in our back half.

"This week we need to bring that, but when the ball is there to be won, we need to make sure we have the numbers there to win the ball and get it out to our runners and that is how we will beat them."

Saturday's game, part of a double-header at Marvel Stadium, will start at 4.40pm.

In other Tasmanian AFLW team news, Launceston's Courtney Webb could play her first game of the season after being named on Carlton's extended bench for Sunday's clash with Brisbane at Ikon Park.