As Richmond embarks on its inaugural AFLW season, the gamers might be taking Tiger followers on the journey with them as they share their experiences. First up is utility Laura Bailey, to element the opening week of pre-season…

What per week! Our first week of pre-season as AFLW Tigers definitely didn’t disappoint.

All of it kicked off at our inaugural coaching session final Monday evening. It was an unbelievable alternative to have all our household and mates there and one of many highlights of my soccer profession thus far.

MEMBERSHIP Change into one of many Membership’s first inaugural Ladies’s Soccer Basis members

As Richmond’s inaugural AFLW workforce, we didn’t know what to anticipate once we ran out onto Punt Street Oval for the primary time as a gaggle.

However to have the wider Richmond group there cheering us on, together with the members, cheer squad, membership workers and younger, aspiring AFLW gamers was wonderful. Having all of them there to be part of our journey made it so particular. 

There was such a loud cheer as we took to the monitor and it was nice to see the smiles on everybody’s faces, significantly the youthful gamers who’re new to this system and have by no means skilled that sort of assist earlier than. 

Our first session centered primarily on fundamentals and our buildings. We labored on our expertise, showcasing the model of soccer we need to be taking part in to our household and mates.

It was superior to see the group gelling so effectively from the get-go. The connection we’ve inside in our group goes from energy to energy. Now we have quite a lot of nice leaders inside our squad and all the women actually do make you’re feeling like a household. 

Now we have a extremely various group of women and all of us deliver totally different qualities that we’ve learnt from being in several environments. Personally, I deliver my experiences from being a police officer.

In our brief period of time collectively, we’ve centered so much on the robust tradition inside our workforce, and I do know that we’ll proudly characterize the Richmond Soccer Membership. 

As an older participant and one who has performed AFLW earlier than, my principal focus in the course of the week was to ensure the youthful ladies felt comfy of their new setting, particularly the ones who’ve moved right down to Melbourne from the nation. They’ve all settled in rather well and I’m excited to see the influence they’ve on the league. 

Over the subsequent couple of weeks pre-Christmas, we’ll be specializing in our expertise and conditioning, to guarantee that coming into video games we’re match and showcase an excellent model of footy.

On Friday evening, we excitedly boarded the bus for our inaugural AFLW camp with completely no thought what was in retailer. 

Over an hour later we arrived at our shock vacation spot, HMAS Cerberus, a Navy coaching base. 

As soon as we arrived on the Navy base, we began to get a bit nervous about what we have been going to be put by way of.

We know that service women and men are resilient and have such a powerful work ethic, so we knew we’d be put by way of our paces bodily and mentally.

Self-discipline. Respect. Teamwork. Lots of the qualities that exist in our workforce additionally mirror what is valued in the Military and Defence Pressure. 

All through the weekend, we took half in lots of workforce constructing and impediment workouts. The primary focus for us was working as a workforce all through the shared challenges we confronted.

My favorite exercise was referred to as the ‘Mud Run’, requiring us to hold one another by way of the mud. 

It was a extremely particular second to see the women get by way of all of it collectively, similar to how we wish 2020 to seem like from a workforce perspective. 

On camp, we obtained to know everybody on a extra private degree and we constructed on these relationships once we have been examined. After getting by way of the weekend collectively, we really feel so able to deal with the remainder of the pre-season. I do know we’ll deliver the self-discipline we learnt on camp to every and each session. 

It’s unbelievable to see how a lot we’ve grown simply within the first week. I’m so proud of the place the workforce is in the intervening time and the path we’re heading in.