12 months ago, the
Beaten most weeks, the GIANTS finished the inaugural season with a loss to the Western Bulldogs at UNSW Canberra Oval, anchoring them to the bottom of the ladder
Flash forward to round seven, 2018 and you could not find a more diametrically opposed situation.
Those GIANTS, the ones who finished 2017 with the wooden spoon, are on the cusp of something great.
A win on Friday night against the Brisbane Lions at Blacktown International Sportpark will - depending on results - see them into a Grand Final.
So, what has changed so markedly in that space of time?
According to
“Last year, I don’t know if I should say this, but it felt like by that stage of the season we were just making up the numbers,” she told the GIANTS official AFLW podcast A Club Like No Other.
“I know we went into that game so desperate to win because we wanted to prove that, that wasn’t the case.
“I think this year we’ve got a whole lot more belief in ourselves, on the way to games the vibe in the bus is really positive and hopeful, and it’s realistic too knowing we’ve got a job to do.”
Belief is powerful in all walks of life, especially on the sporting field.
But sometimes it can be overpowering. Not for McWilliams and the GIANTS.
The forward, who has bagged seven goals in 2018, says while they acknowledge the significance of the game, they’re not getting ahead of themselves.
“It’s such a short season, but this is the game this weekend. It’s more important than any other,” McWilliams said.
“The group is approaching it with the same mentality as normal, business as usual, make sure we’re prepared and ready as we can be for the match.
“It’s a short turn around, we’ve only had six days, I know the girls don’t want to get too ahead of themselves so they’re just focussing on getting the job done.”
If they ‘get the job done’ the GIANTS will become the first of the club’s football teams to make it to a Grand Final after the GIANTS Netball side finished runners-up in the 2017 Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final.
McWilliams said with the GIANTS recording two consecutive losses to start the 2018 season, she didn’t consider the GIANTS would be playing off for a spot in the final game of the year until now.
“For myself, it’s sort of snuck up on me that we can potentially win this entire competition,” she said.
“Starting from those two games when we lost two in a row I think I was like ‘this is going to be really hard to get anywhere near the final’.
“From there we’ve beaten Collingwood, drawn with Adelaide, beat the Western Bulldogs and Freo, and all of a sudden it’s a possibility.
“I’ve never played in a grand final in footy in my entire life so I just want to do everything that I possibly can.”
