The Sydney Swans AFLW team are preparing to take on Brisbane in a practice match this Saturday, 12.30pm at Brighton Homes Arena.
The match is open to the public and free to attend. You can tune into all the action via the AFLW Instagram and X social media accounts as well as watch the livestream on sydneyswans.com.au.
On the pre-season match against Brisbane and Round 1 against Richmond
"Of course, everyone's looking forward to Round 1. Look, we've been working really hard in the off-season and this pre-season for that Round 1, and I think we've got a bit of a redemption game against Richmond because they got us last year. So we're looking forward to you know test our new skills and the things that we've been working hard this season to come up against them again but we're trying to take it week by week at this point and Saturday is a good test for us you know they're a really quality side grand final side last year and you know we're really confident in what we've been doing this last pre-season you know we're just excited to test it out against a quality side this week."
On nine new players joining the squad this year
"The core group I think there's maybe nine or ten of us from year one that are here and we've you know, we've got a good understanding of how the club operates and you know what our standards are and what we represent and you know able to take those girls who are new this year under our wing to kind of show them the way but the girls that we've come in this year have such an amazing attitude and like they've taught us even heaps of stuff bringing things like experience from other clubs. We've got a really diverse group and I think that adds a lot of value to our side this year but yeah for the girls I think that like we've done a lot of work in the off season we were pretty diligent in the like the you know the first couple months of this year we all came in to training start of Feb and you know we were coming in week in week out so we were able to get a good understanding of what those girls were like. We had a good couple months and underneath our belts to get to know the girls they can understand the program they've just slotted in really well."
On having consistent performers all across the ground this season
"I think definitely, obviously Chloe going down last year was a pretty big kick to the guts and we had to really find a way around that because we did a lot of stuff like around her and you know we've built a lot of resilience at a team when that happened. We've also kind of obviously shifted a focus to our other line groups that maybe needed a little bit more attention but you know you can look at BT (Brenna Tarrant) down there like she's an all-Australian back, you know you've got Priv (Bec Privettelli) down in the forward line she just leads that forward line as well and you've obviously got some up-and-coming stars like you know Cynthia (Hamilton) and you've got Amelia Martin as well who's also going to be a star down there. So you know we've worked really hard these last couple months and obviously the years as well we've learned so much as a team and I think this year we're going in with a lot of confidence we've got good people leading us and yeah we're just excited to obviously show the work that we've done in this off-season and I think you're going to be pretty excited for what we'll have on offer this year."
On the pre-season work the team has put in
"We've got a new S&C coach, and he really tested us this off-season and pre-season. Coming into the pre-season, I was honestly nervous for what we were going to get in pre-season. I've never really been nervous like you get a little bit but like I was on every session I didn't know what to expect there was a few curveballs thrown our way we didn't know what to expect each training so you know it was uncomfortable but like you always come out of those sessions feeling so much better and so much stronger and getting through that together as a team like just builds you builds a lot more resilience as a group as well so we were able to tick those boxes together."
On the expectations for the season
"I think every team goes into the season wanting to make finals, you know we train really hard and we're just looking week by week at this point we just want to get the most out of every week what's been thrown in front of us. We're big on talking about what being where our feet are so we don't want to look too much into the future, obviously finals is something that everyone looks forward to and is a goal that people want to has a goal for every team but yeah at this point we're you know we've got our eyes set on Round One at North Sydney Oval so you know we're really focused on that and bringing you know our best performance for that."
