The GIANTS will open their 2024 AFLW campaign with an exciting clash with the Western Bulldogs in the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon.

 Match Information:  

GIANTS v Western Bulldogs
Saturday, August 31 at 1:05pm
Manuka Oval | Ngunnawal Country

State of Play:

GIANTS fans will get their first look at this year’s exciting and new-look AFLW line-up on Saturday as they kick-start their 2024 season in a clash with the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.  

After months of preparation, the GIANTS will enter their 2024 AFLW campaign full of enthusiasm and looking to start their season with some momentum with a win over the Dogs at Manuka Oval.

The GIANTS could field a host of fresh faces against the Dogs on Saturday, with the club welcoming nine talented and exciting new players in the off season. 

Saturday’s exciting season opener will be a special one for popular midfielder Bec Beeson who will begin her official reign as skipper after recently being voted by her teammates and coaching staff as the club’s new captain.

The GIANTS will enter the clash at almost full strength, with the likes of young stars Zarlie Goldsworthy, Alyce Parker, Georgia Garnett and Tarni Evans all fit and ready to fire against the Dogs.

The week one clash will have further significance for Parker, with the gun midfielder set to play her 50^th AFLW match on Saturday.  

The Opposition:  

The Bulldogs will enter the 2024 season with likely the most change of any club in the competition with a new coach, new captain, new players, new list manager and a new general manager of women’sfooty.

The new-look Dogs will be looking to bounce back from a down 2023 season in which they registered just one win to claim the wooden spoon.

Like the GIANTS, the Dogs will enter the 2024 season with a new leader, with Deanna Berry named the new skipper after a new leadership selection process was introduced ahead of the season. Berry takes the reins from inaugural Bulldog Ellie Blackburn who led the club for six seasons and captained the side to their 2018 flag.

Recent History:

Saturday’s match will mark almost exactly two years to the day that the GIANTS and the Bulldogs last met in an AFLW match, with the sides also kick-starting their 2022 seasons against one another.  

Held back on August 28, 2022, it was the Bulldogs who registered a seven-point win at home over the GIANTS in the round one fixture. 

In what was Cam Bernasconi’s first match as the club’s new AFLW head coach, the GIANTS stormed home with a big final term but the home side held on to win 6.5 (41) to 5.4 (34) at Ikon Park.  

GIANTS Player to Watch: 

Superstar Alyce Parker will look to celebrate her 50^th AFLW game in style on Saturday as she aims to continue to elevate her standing amongst the competition’s elite.

Drafted ahead of the 2019 season, the country girl from the town of Holbrook in southern NSW is a driving force in the GIANTS midfield, with her clearance work and her raking left boot making her one of the AFLW’s most damaging players.

With a record four club champion awards already to her name after only recently turning 24, Parker looks primed to continue her dominance in season 2024 after a strong pre-season on the track.

Surrounded by a host of exciting fresh faces in a new-look midfield, Parker will once again look to lead the way in the middle alongside the likes of Beeson and Nicola Barr.

The last time Parker faced the Dogs - in the above-mentioned clash in 2022 - the midfield star was the dominant player on the ground, fishing with a match-high 26 touches (five more than anyone else on the ground), to go along with six tackles and a goal.

In the Mix: 

With almost the entire squad to choose from, the GIANTS could welcome a number of new faces to the side to open the 2024 season on Saturday.

Former Brisbane Lions premiership winner Mikayla Pauga is one who has impressed over the summer and could be in line to make her GIANTS debut, while O’Dowd continues to impress after only taking up the sport this year after being recruited from Ireland.

Team Selection: 

The GIANTS will name their week one team at 6:20pm on Thursday at gwsgiants.com.au.  

Rehab Report: 

Get a full injury update ahead of Saturday’s season opener here.

Where to Watch: 

The GIANTS’ week one clash with the Bulldogs will be shown live on Fox Footy and Kayo nationally and on 7Mate in NSW and the ACT from 1pm on Saturday.

Social Media: 

Follow the GIANTS on Instagram at @GWSGIANTSAFLW,  and be part of the #BigBigSound in 2024!

The Western Bulldogs' AFLW rebuild has hit its first speed bump with an emphatic 63-point defeat to the GIANTS in Canberra.

Tam Hyett's tenure as Bulldogs coach started with a loss after the GIANTS slammed through nine unanswered goals to triumph 10.12 (72) to 1.3 (9) in windy conditions at Manuka Oval on Saturday afternoon. 

Hyett, an assistant coach in Melbourne's 2022 women's premiership season, was handed the job of revamping the Bulldogs after last season's wooden spoon.

The club won only one game and it cost Nathan Burke his job after five seasons.

Meanwhile, Cam Bernasconi's GIANTS will cherish their biggest-ever victory after recording only two wins to finish 16th last year.

Alyce Parker was outstanding in the GIANTS' engine room and finished with one goal, 29 disposals and seven clearances to mark her 50th game.

Nicola Barr (29 touches), Zarlie Goldsworthy (four goals) and Eilish O'Dowd (two goals) also played starring roles.

For the visitors, former captain Ellie Blackburn (25 disposals, nine clearances) impressed while Alice Edmonds took 37 hitouts to the GIANTS' total of nine.

The new-look Bulldogs side featured four AFLW debutants in 2023, No.1 pick Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner, Brooke Barwick, Elaine Grigg and Cleo Buttifant and four club debutants in Lauren Ahrens (Gold Coast), Analea McKee (Brisbane), Ellie Gavalas (North Melbourne), Jasmyn Smith (Gold Coast).

O'Dowd produced a goal-of-the-year contender on debut within 15 seconds from the opening siren.

The Irish recruit won the tap against Edmonds and bolted straight through the corridor to open the scoring from inside 30 with her first disposal and set a new league record for the fastest goal scored.

The Bulldogs recorded just one point before the first break, with the hosts leading by eight points.

McKee hit the scoreboard in the second term for the only Bulldogs goal of the game, but Goldsworthy's goal restored the GIANTS' buffer after a 50m penalty was paid against Grigg for encroaching the mark.

The GIANTS then kicked 5.6 to none to build a 44-point lead at third-quarter time.

The Bulldogs notched one more point in the final term to finish with their equal lowest-ever AFLW score.

Debutant's Double Delight

Irish GIANTS recruit Eilish O'Dowd wasted no time kicking her first goal, booting her maiden major within the first 15 seconds of the match. She followed it up with a second shortly after half-time. The GIANTS recruited O'Dowd for her speed and athleticism, and she certainly delivered in game one.

Good As Goldsworthy

She won the Rising Star last season, and Zarlie Goldsworthy continues to rise in 2024. The 19-year-old kicked four goals against the Dogs, showcasing her footy smarts and ability to find the ball off the back of a contest.

Up next
The Bulldogs will host Port Adelaide at the MCG on Friday night, while the GIANTS will travel to Melbourne to play Richmond at the Swinburne Centre on Sunday.

GIANTS                                   1.3      2.4       7.10      10.12 (72)
WESTERN BULLDOGS                  0.1      1.2       1.2       1.3 (9)

GOALS

GIANTS: Goldsworthy 4, O'Dowd 2, Garnett 2, Parker, Evans
Western Bulldogs: McKee

BEST

GIANTS: Barr, Goldsworthy, Parker, Beeson
Western Bulldogs: Blackburn, Pritchard, Edmonds

INJURIES

Greater Western Sydney: Pauga (ribs)
Western Bulldogs: Nil