Bríd Stack: New season, new gameplan and still plenty of drive to improve

I’m more confident in my abilities this season. I know exactly what my role is within the gameplan, I know what my strengths are, I know what my limitations are

Sat, 27 Aug, 2022 - 08:00

Bríd Stack

Thursday night’s game between Collingwood and Carlton marked the opening of the AFLW Season 7. A few of us gathered at Cora’s apartment to watch it and get a look at two teams we would be meeting further down the track.

This AFLW season is historic as it’s the first time that all 18 AFL clubs now have an AFLW programme competing in the competition. I remember watching round one of last season with a knot in my stomach. What had I gotten myself into? Was it madness coming back after a serious injury? I remember willing there to be another few weeks of pre-season as I didn’t feel ready to take the field yet. To be honest, I wasn’t fully sure of my role and I felt I still had so many areas to improve upon.

A lot has changed since then. There has been a new head coach appointed to both the AFL and AFLW teams, there is a new gameplan, there are new players, there’s a new jersey. But most significantly, I’m more confident in my abilities this season. I know exactly what my role is within the gameplan, I know what my strengths are, I know what my limitations are. I’m a lot more comfortable with making mistakes and I’ve 10 games under my belt now.

I watched the game on Thursday night with a little less nervousness and a lot more excitement. The knot in my stomach hasn’t fully unravelled but that’s a good thing. Nerves are a sign you care about what you’re doing and a touch of doubt is vital to keep complacency at bay.

On Sunday we play the Western Bulldogs from Melbourne in round one. This is the start of 10 straight games in the main body of the season followed by four weeks of finals for those that make the coveted top eight in the table. We fly down on Saturday before our 12.10 game in Icon Park the following day. We surprisingly got matched against them two weeks ago for the official practice game.

Let me take you back to last season where we played the Bulldogs in round 4. Their team had been impacted early on in the season from Covid and were just starting to come back to full strength. The week leading into that game, six of our starting team got struck down with Covid and it meant we were going into the Lion’s den understrength.

We had four debutants that day, whether they were ready for it or not. What transpired was one of the greatest displays of selflessness, belief and teamwork by the Giants and we came away with a 21-point win. Of course, the talk after the game was that the Western Bulldogs weren’t at full tilt so we caught them at a vulnerable time. A lot of us remembered that narrative as we took the field to play them two weeks ago. It was a real chance for us to test out our new gameplan and build on the good preseason we’ve had.

With any new gameplan, there are teething issues. We started poorly but things began to come together for us in the third and four quarters. It came down to the last play of a game, a ‘Park the Bus’ type situation, and we won 51-50. It was a great win but the dominant mood afterwards was to stay composed and not get carried away with a win in a practice match. It will count for nothing unless we can carry this form through to the season opener.

Getting points on the board early is even more important as we face into a new Sydney derby in Round 3 against the Swans. We played them in an unofficial practice game three weeks ago at Tramway Oval, beside the SCG. A sizeable crowd came out to see if there was any fire there between the local teams and they weren’t disappointed. Tramway is a multi-purpose ground with poor lights and is a really short field, so the match was fiercely contested.

There were plenty of sore bodies when the final whistle blew and we came away with the spoils. The Sydney derby is set to be played in the iconic Sydney Cricket Grounds which will be class. A huge stadium with huge history and there is already plenty of chatter about it. Like any local rivalry at home in club football, these games can take on a life of their own and add plenty of spice to an early-round fixture.

This is where the big test lies for the Giants. In previous years, they have typically played well in pre-season but didn’t consistently carry that form into the regular season. That’s something that Cam Bernasconi, our new head coach, and the management, have been drilling into us since the start of pre-season. The new gameplan is all about playing without fear but the structure put in place allows everyone to play to their strengths, which is what you want in any team environment.

It would be remiss of me to say that I didn’t miss Alan McConnell as head coach. Alan gave me this opportunity in the first place, gave so much care and friendship to me and my family when we moved to the other side of the world, and he invested so much time in me doing extra craft sessions to bring me up to speed. He was so encouraging and a wonderful motivator. But this is a business. And the AFLW, much like the AFL, is all about the business of winning. It doesn’t matter if you’re a great coach, if you’re not getting results, something has to change. So change was made and Cam was appointed in Alan’s place.

Thankfully, I had met Cam during my time in the hub in Albury when we first landed in January last year. He’s a really great guy with a huge background in academy coaching at the Giants. Being involved with younger people means you have to be very concise and precise when giving direction and he has brought those qualities into our set-up. Cam has been an excellent fit for the team because everyone is extremely clear on their role.

All this change happened at the end of last season and even before we headed home there was so much uncertainty in the air. There were a lot of honest conversations about underperformance, about team culture. There was a lot of discussion about player movement. Players were getting wooed by expansion clubs for big figures. There was no set start date for the next season and no indication when the new CBA would be announced. So we had to head home, unsure if we would be returning again.

Carthach and I had spoken about the financial implications for our family and while we would have gladly gone over to Australia the first year for nothing but the experience, we were now feeling the pinch of potentially three seasons of taking career breaks, being self-employed, having a mortgage at home and the high cost of living in Sydney.

If there wasn’t a change to the CBA, we were prepared to call it quits and return to Ireland for good. The CBA turned out to be a long drawn-out process but when it was finally announced, it came with some favourable increases to benefit the players. We felt it was worth it to go back.

Finances aside, there was still more drive in me to improve as a player and that truly was the deciding factor. I had gotten a taste for the sport and I loved it.

I missed the first two weeks of preseason due to family and business commitments but when I landed at the start of July, I had to hit the ground running. Literally. I had a 1.6km fitness time trial within the first few days and had to grit the teeth the first few weeks to get through the intense loading phase. While I was at home, I was training with my club St Val’s and played a share of league games but, my God, it was like being hit by a whirlwind with the pre-season three weeks shorter than the previous two seasons.

The S&C coaches were just building from the load we had already done earlier in the year but the girls were in great shape and I had to try and catch up with the group. I felt I did. TR, our head S&C coach, said to me the other night that I was a lot stronger and fitter than I was at the outset of pre-season last year. I hadn’t really thought too much about it but TR showed me the data to prove it. By God, they love their data but I have now grown fond of it myself and the reassurance you get from it. ‘Money in the Bank, Stackie’ as TR would say.

Experience is everything but I definitely feel I’m a lot more confident coming into this campaign. Last year, I really did feel that I was hitting the unknown. Looking back on it all now, I probably was struggling a lot with confidence. I played well enough but I was up and down too much in games. I felt I did get better as the season went on but my big goal now is striving for consistency across all the games.

I want my teammates and management to know full well what they’re going to get from me every day I take to the field. If that means I’m a 7 out of 10 player every day, I’d much prefer that they know what they’re going to get instead of being a 9 one day and a 5 a week later.

Confidence is expressed too in many forms. I’d have no problem now in calling out my teammates if I felt they weren’t doing their job properly, whereas last year, I’d have been too afraid to open my mouth. Part of that was down to not being fully sure of what I was supposed to be doing the whole time in games. I have a greater understanding of the game, along with more clarity around my role. For a team like the Giants, who are not ranked near the top, the gameplan needs to very simplistic.

And it is now. It’s all-in team attack and all-in team defence, which is similar to what I would have been used to at home. Last year, we played more in segregated lines, which I found more difficult to adjust to, whereas now, our set-up is more akin to what any GAA manager at home would preach in that your first line of defence is your deepest forward.

Not long after I met Cam, he pulled me aside and asked me straight up what I felt my strengths were. "What are your weapons?" I replied, "run and carry." He was very firm in his response. "Spot on, let’s use them." He has given me a target now to hit in every game. "If you bring your strengths," said Cam, "you’ll play better for me."

It’s exciting but there is pressure there too coming on the back of two disappointing seasons, especially last year when we never really got off the ground. A couple of key injuries derailed us last year and we’ve already been faced with some challenges again now. Despite those setbacks though, the group is really keen to make a statement by scoring more goals and being harder to beat. We just want to go for it. All out. No regrets. No fear.

Bring on the Doggies. I can’t wait.