Tasmania’s VFLW coach Georgia Walker says her squad is champing at the bit ahead of Thursday’s practice match against Carlton after a gruelling seven-month pre-season.
Walker said the team was eager to finally test itself against outside opposition.
“It’s been a long, long, long pre-season,” she said.
“Seven months that we’ve been building for this and the girls get sick of match play against each other, so the fact we get to have some actual opposition this Thursday night against Carlton’s really exciting.”
The Devils will fly out of Tasmania on Thursday morning for a 5:30pm hit-out before returning first thing Friday.
Walker said the squad was close to full strength, describing it as the healthiest the group has been all pre-season.
“Our high performance and medical team have done a brilliant job at that,” she said.
The only player missing is Georgia Clark, who is recovering from surgery.
Walker said the main goal for the match was to see how her players handle genuine pressure and adapt to a different style of opposition after months of training against their own system.
“The biggest thing is just to practice,” she said. “I wanna see how they go being challenged.”
She said the stakes would only rise come round one, with the season opener against Casey at North Hobart potentially drawing 10,000 to 12,000 fans as part of a double header.
“I think my biggest thing is being able to see how the girls rise to the challenge under that pressure,” she said.
Walker acknowledged the challenge of flying out on game day, calling it a test of the players’ resilience and preparation.
Most other VFLW clubs have already had three practice matches this pre-season, but the logistics of being an interstate team made that difficult for Tasmania.
“You’d always like a couple more,” Walker said.
“It’s just that the way that it goes being an interstate team or part of the VFL, it’s hard to manage.”
She said Carlton had recruited strongly over the off-season, picking up several former AFLW players, and warned the VFLW competition was only getting more competitive.
“It gives us a good reality check of where we are, which we need,” she said.
The Devils’ season proper kicks off against Casey on May 16.
