Twin sisters Georgia and Olivia Fogarty grew up doing everything together, but partnering each other on the comeback trail from major knee injuries wasn't exactly on the bucket list.
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The 19-year-old twins suffered anterior cruciate ligament tears within a month of each other and Georgia feared her sporting ambitions were in jeopardy.
The twins held training contracts with W-League side Canberra United having spent five years rising through the ranks of the ACT's development pathways.
Georgia is home on summer vacation from St. Edward's University where she has soccer scholarship in the United States - but the trip home from Texas hasn't made for a very pleasant holiday.
She tore her ACL for the second time in little more than a year while training a few weeks ago - it followed the ACL tear her sister Olivia suffered in May while playing Australian rules for the Eastlake Demons.
The twins both had surgery one day apart a fortnight ago and are now on the long road to recovery.
"My first thought was they would take my scholarship away," Georgia said.
"But my coach has been super supportive about everything, letting me go back over to the US and do my rehab over there so I’m really grateful for that.
"Going through it the first time, there’s questions you have, ‘should it feel like this?’ I’m certain about what I have to do and what I need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
"I feel a bit more relaxed coming in the second time, knowing that this is what I have to do to eliminate it from ever happening again.
"It’s good and bad too, we’re spending a lot of time with each other. We have each other to work through issues and if I’m having pain, she’s having the same pain.
"It’s good to have each other. Obviously I would never wish for her to go through this but at the end of the day it is good to have each other. Going through it, we can lift each other up at the end of the day."
The rise of women's sport has opened the door for more female players to dive into Australian rules, soccer, cricket and both rugby codes.
But it seems a young woman's foray into sport brings with it an unwelcome ally - the increased potential of ACL injuries.
Medibank data shows a 52 per cent increase in ACL repairs for girls aged 10 to 14 years since 2012. For those aged 10 to 19, it was a 31 per cent rise.
Compared to boys aged 10 to 19, there was almost 20 per cent fewer claims for the same injury. The Fogarty sisters are part of the 31 per cent.
"I was obviously really devastated for her," Olivia said.
"She had just got back to playing, she only played two or three games and she had just done it again so it was really sad."
But with the devastation comes a benefit - she has someone there to help her on the long road to recovery.
"It was good [to have Georgia there], especially around when I was getting surgery," Olivia said.
"She was telling me how painful it would be and just how slow it would be. When I’m always like ‘it’s doing this or doing that’, she says ‘don’t worry, that’s what happens’. It’s been good having her."
