Beeson's 75th: The Last Giant Standing Almost Wasn't

Rebecca Beeson will run out for her 75th AFLW match in Melbourne on Sunday, and the number alone tells only half the story. The GWS Giants captain is the last remaining player from the club's inaugural AFLW list in 2017. She has been there from the first bounce, through every reshuffle, expansion and rebuild — and nearly wasn't there at all.

Weeks before the 2022 season, Beeson copped a severe head knock in a practice match against Sydney. It was her third concussion in seven months. By mutual decision with the club doctor, she stepped away from the game for the entire seventh AFLW season to focus on her health. ABC News

Her rehabilitation lasted 12 months. She saw concussion specialists, travelled from Sydney to Victoria to consult doctors, and worked with a specialist head-injury neuropsychologist in Melbourne. During that same period, her father died suddenly. Beeson was rebuilding her brain while grieving her dad.

She came back in 2023. That year she claimed her second Gabrielle Trainor Medal — the award given to the Giants' best and fairest player, voted across the season by coaches and match officials. In 2024, after long-time skipper Alicia Eva stepped down, Beeson was voted the club's third captain by her teammates.

Giants coach Cam Bernasconi said Beeson's experience with head injuries left a lasting mark on the playing group. She brought back neck-strengthening and concussion protocol exercises that are now used across the whole squad. What began as one player's recovery routine became standard practice for everyone.

Round one this season offered a glimpse of the form Beeson is carrying into her milestone. She kicked a career-high three goals against West Coast — a bag (AFL shorthand for a multi-goal game) that underlined her value as a midfielder who can push forward and hit the scoreboard.

For a quick sense of the milestone: AFLW launched in 2017 with eight teams. GWS was one of them. Every other player from that first Giants list has since moved on or retired. Beeson, 29, is the thread connecting the club's origin to its present. Seventy-five games in a competition that has only run since 2017 is a substantial chunk of the league's entire history.

Sunday's match is in Melbourne. The opponent and venue details frame a milestone that, for Beeson, almost never arrived.