The GIANTS AFLW side have hit the ground running with pre-season officially getting underway with the infamous 2km time trial.
After an unofficial and voluntary period of pre-season, the majority of the 2022 squad now find themselves based in Sydney with a real intent and focus on the upcoming season.
Saturday’s session was earmarked as one of pre-season’s biggest benchmark testing days with the 2km time trial.
It was 19-year-old Tarni Evans who crossed the line first, with the endurance athlete finishing front of the pack ahead of firefighter Lou Stephenson and renowned runner Nicola Barr.
Evans knocked 14 seconds off her personal best in the pre-season fitness test, with eight other teammates also beating their previous bests.
AFLW Head Coach Alan McConnell said he was pleased with the results of the 2km time trial as well as the quality of the session following the run.
“Saturdays are by far our best session. It’s better conditions here at Tom Wills Oval of a morning - less wind - and I was really pleased with what the girls put out there across the whole morning,” he said.
“While we’ve kept things ticking along over the off-season and things have gone on, we’ve really looked to have made a shift over the last two weeks, an urgency and attention to detail that we didn’t want to touch prior to this time.
“Over the off-season while we were here and available for the group it was matter of fit your footy around your lifestyle and now it’s fit your lifestyle around your footy.”
10 new faces join the group for the 2022 season. Three were courtesy of the trade period with Katie Loynes, Chloe Dalton (Carlton) and Jasmine Grierson (North Melbourne) all settled in to their new club. The NAB AFLW draft saw Ally Morphett, Jess Doyle, Brodee Mowbray, Georgina Fowler and Casidhe Simmons join the club while Isadora McLeay and Ally Dallaway joined the squad as replacement players.
“All of the new girls are fitting in really well,” said McConnell.
“I think the challenge for us as a coaching staff is ensure we keep things simple, especially with the significant number of new players. To make things as simple as you can, and you can quantify change.
“The girls get quite anxious around the 2km time trial because there is a measure. Interestingly what we want measure is what we deliver on game day. So, one of the things we have looked to shift is to be able to measure more effectively our brand of footy this year.”
The GIANTS have officially begun pre-season ahead of the 2022 NAB AFLW season which is set to commence the first weekend of January.
