The energy was palpable as the ball bounced to signal the West Coast Eagles’ first Friday night clash in AFLW history and the Eagles were alight early, entering 50 in the opening minutes and attacking the ball with fervour to start the match with intensity.
But, in the opening five minutes disaster struck for hardnosed midfielder Aisling McCarthy, when she fractured her wrist in a seemingly innocuous incident in Geelong’s forward 50.
Having been ruled out for the season, McCarthy vowed to contribute to the culture off-field as best she could and rally behind the girls.
The Irish onballer has attended every training, every gym session and every match despite being unable to participate, and has ensured her role as a senior leader can still be fulfilled off the field.
“I’ve had different perspective over the last few weeks, I’ve been still involved with the group and looking on from the sidelines,” McCarthy said.
“I’ve been trying to get involved with the girls as much as possible and just to see how much hard work they’re putting in behind the scenes is great.
“You have to rally around the girls really hard, being part of a team sport, I’m doing everything I can do get around the girls and it’s great to see how hard they’re working.
“I’m putting in the hard yards in the gym as well and I have a really great medical team around me and the physios and doctors here, so that’s been really good to have their support.
“It’s a really good environment to be in even though I can’t contribute on the field, I still feel really involved so that’s really nice as well.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back on the pitch with the girls and working really hard in the off-season to get ready for next season.”
A fortnight later and West Coast ran out for their first home game of the season at Mineral Resources Park, clashing with Richmond after four-and-a-half weeks in the Melbourne hub and quarantine.
The team were off to a sluggish start after being held goalless, but were able to boot seven goals to Richmond’s six after the first break after raising the intensity and energy around the ground.
Versatile defender Maddy Collier was playing through the midfield, and in the dying minutes of the match was jammed in the contest and unable to move her knee or ankle, resulting in a fractured fibula and two small fractures on a second metatarsal.
Collier has also been ensuring the team receive her support off-field and is also in attendance at all training sessions and matches.
“Checking in as a teammate, you still have a role to play even when you’re not on the field, chatting with the girls, seeing where their heads at,” Collier said.
“Letting them talk if they need to talk, being a shoulder to cry on or whatever they need.
“Just trying to keep morale up in general, we’ve only got two weeks of the season left, so it’s just about focussing them on games and training in the time we’ve got left.
“It’s obviously been a challenging season, a lot of things going on this year, but if we can make the most of the last of the season and whatever they need off-field I’ll try and do that, just to be a good teammate.”
