When Josh Hanlon throws himself between plastic poles on a sit-ski at speed, he gets the same rush he once felt crashing into ruck contests.
The all-action 24-year-old is making his Winter Paralympics debut in Beijing this year, less than four years since suffering the illness that took him away from the football field.
Hanlon loved footy and for a long time, it loved him too.
As a youngster, Hanlon was called into the GWS academy, where he spent four years between the ages of 15 and 19.
Then as a 20-year-old in June 2018, Hanlon had played a game of local football before he checked into a hospital with an illness -- and didn't leave for three months.
It was a life-threatening strep A bacterial infection and amid complications, toxic shock and sepsis forced a series of amputations.
When his surgeries were over, Hanlon had both legs amputated below the knee and his dominant right hand amputated below the wrist.
But never one to spend too much time idle, having turned 21 in hospital, Hanlon quickly turned his focus to rehabilitation and what came next.
"I just wanted to get the hell out of there," he told AAP.
"That was my mission from pretty much the day I walked in, I wanted to get back out.
"But that didn't happen for three months.
"Once I got to rehab there was no stopping me from learning to walk and getting out of there."
The next challenge was finding a new sport for a guy whose entire life is based around being active.
Wheelchair basketball, something he still enjoys, was the first port of call.
Less than a year after leaving hospital, Hanlon, who'd been to the snow just three times before his illness, was invited to a come-and-try day at Perisher.
He picked up sit-skiing "pretty damn quick" and a stint at Park City in Utah followed, while by the 2019-20 season, Hanlon was in the thick of Australia's Paralympics plans.
The all-action nature of slalom and giant slalom soon proved his calling.
"I loved it in the ruck, I loved being in the thick of it," Hanlon said.
"I didn't mind being up forward or down back but I loved being in the ruck, I loved being where the ball was all the time, jumping, running into other blokes.
"Slalom skiing is very physical so I think I was a good fit.
"I loved the bash and crash of being in the ruck and the same goes for slalom skiing, it's very similar, very physical."
A handful of his ex-academy teammates: Jacob Hopper, Harry Himmelberg, Harry Perryman and Matt Flynn, are in the thick of AFL pre-season, Hanlon will be taking on the biggest stage of his life.
Eighth-placed finishes at World Cups have him eyeing top 10 placings in slalom and giant slalom in Beijing.
Hanlon kicks off his campaign in Thursday's giant slalom, then will attack the slalom on Saturday.
For the man from Weethalle, who'd been to the snow just three times before his illness, this early peak in his career is just the beginning.
"Just perfecting each turn, getting better and better, getting quicker," he said.
"Anyone can go quick but being quick and being in control and arcing each turn and just getting better at another sport in general is really thrilling.
"The better you get the more fun it seems to be and there's less fear the better you get.
"So each day is more and more fun."
