AFLW 2021: GWS Giants prepare for season amid uncertainty of COVID border issues

As they prepare for the 2021 season, GWS AFLW stars can’t afford to ponder what’s next, because the COVID crisis has made it impossible to predict.

GWS was forced to cancel its final three training sessions of 2020.

Greater Western Sydney’s AFLW team is continuing to plan for season 2021 in regional New South Wales, near the Victorian border, despite the uncertainty of where the team will head next.

The Giants, who are scheduled to play their opening game on January 31 against Fremantle in Perth, relocated to regional Albury last week in an effort to then travel into Victoria and two weeks later onto Western Australia for Round 1.

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GWS AFLW side is feeling the impact of Sydney’s COVID cluster. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The move was seen as an important piece in rescuing the upcoming 2021 AFLW season, but snap border closures – first Victoria closing the border to all of NSW, and then WA closing the border to Victoria on December 31 – have scuttled those initial plans, while also throwing the fixture into confusion with games scheduled across the country.

Giants coach Alan McConnell said the AFL had not yet given the team an indication of where the team would head once their two weeks in Albury were complete.

“And it’s not even worth thinking about, to be honest,” he said.

“I did make a few plans based on the thought that we were probably heading to Victoria and those are obviously now all up in the air.

“The situation for us is that we deal with what’s right in front of our noses and that’s the only way we can operate.

“Hopefully there will be some clarity soon, we’re comfortable and content with what we’ve got and how we’ve planning to operate for the next couple of weeks.”

Giants head coach Alan McConnell says the uncertainty of the COVID situation and border closures as made preparations for the 2021 season tough. Picture: AAP

McConnell said he was completely open-minded about what ever happened next.

“I trust the powers at be will make some good decisions and give us the information when we the time’s right,” he said.

“The uncertainty of the uncertainty, I think, puts another layer in that we don’t really need and it doesn’t help us, so no real thoughts about what will happen next.”

As the AFL continues to monitor the situation and work through its contingencies given the nationwide border closures, McConnell said it was important the 2021 AFLW season went ahead, after 2020’s season was cancelled with no premier declared as the global pandemic took hold.

It’s uncertain times for the Giants right now. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

“You look at our group of girls, we’ve had two women arrive from Ireland, we’ve got a mum here in camp with two kids, we’ve got girls who park their study and their full-time lives in other states and move to Sydney to play footy for us, we’ve got girls who are teachers who are chasing down leave,” he said.

“In our team, it’s important that we don’t just play the game; we actually want to play, to do it really well, and play to win.”

McConnell said when the team arrived in Albury on Friday, there was an overwhelming sense of relief, as well as excitement, among the players, particularly because it was the first time the entire squad – including Irish recruits Cora Staunton and Brid Stack fresh out of hotel quarantine – was together since pre-season began in November.