The AFLW program has commenced for season 2023.

And as Head Coach Cam Bernasconi alluded to in AFLW: Day 1, the vibes are high.

“It is really exciting to have the whole group back in the four walls of the GIANTS,” he said.

“Straight away I can sense a great feeling in the group, a sense of real hunger in the team this year.”

The return on May 29 marked the commencement of the official AFLW pre-season period but the GIANTS had already been completing what they liked to refer to as Operation: Bridge the Gap.

The program, which had been in place since end of January, was aimed at closing the gap between the GIANTS and the top teams and top players and Bernasconi labelled it as successful.

As the program ticks over, the focus area shifts but the vision remains.

“Our first block now in team training will be addressing our ball movement and contest – a big work on for us is winning more contested footy and being more competitive at the source and having the ability to hit the scoreboard more,” said Bernasconi.

“The second block will focus on building on the orange tsunami, making sure that we have waves of defence, and we get the ball back as fast as we can and score off turnover and value the contest.

The identified focuses and pre-season work ons are to have the GIANTS playing a more consistent brand of footy.

“We’ve been up and down for a number of years and this year we want to be really process driven football club,” Bernasconi said.

“Everything we do during the week will be aiming to bring our GIANTS DNA consistently and I believe if we can add consistency into our game and sing the song more, then absolutely we’ll be a chance of  playing finals footy in November this year.”

The commencement of pre-season 2023 has also seen the program enter a new era, with the girls completing one day session a week.

Traditionally the women’s program consists of three night sessions, beginning at around 6pm at night.

“It’s fantastic,” Bernasconi said of the move to day sessions. 

“It gives the girls and the program a taste of what a full-time football is like and to be able to mingle and train alongside the boys is invaluable.

“It really instils that one club feel.

“I’m really proud of the girls and thanks to their employers for being flexible and allowing them to make it all work.”

The 2023 AFLW season will start on the first weekend of September, with a fixture and the season length still yet to be announced.