AFLW 2022: First ever Sydney derby will be historic for the winner

The biggest AFLW game in Sydney’s history on Saturday will be a landmark moment for two clubs.

Alicia Eva from GWS and Brooke Lochland from the Sydney Swans. Picture: Tim Hunter.

It’s likely one team will finally get on the winner’s list for 2022 when the final siren sounds on the first-ever AFLW Sydney derby at the SCG on Saturday, unless of course there’s a draw.

But the combatants have declared there’s far more at stake than four points with the footballing trailblazers hoping local fans embrace the journey of both the teams and the code after all the efforts to turn the hopes in to a reality.

Neither the first-year Swans or GWS have managed a win through the opening two rounds of the season and the Swans could be boosted by the return of co-captain Maddy Collier from an ankle injury.

Alicia Eva of the Giants in action (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Swans coach Scott Gowans knows a derby win for the first as his club would be momentous. But he said for his team it was a journey and the rewards, for players and fans, would come in time and now it was about building, both a team and support.

“We will be good one day, but I‘d like to think that everyone just doesn’t come on board when we are good,” he said on Wednesday.

“I‘d like to think that they’ve come and seen these sort of times and seen it build and it’s really special ... yes, we’ll make a few mistakes, but at least we’ll take the game on.”

It’s taken seven seasons for the Swans to join foundation club GWS in the AFLW and Giants skipper Alicia Eva said the arrival of the derby was a testament to how big the competition has become, and another blow to the critics.

“The biggest naysayers of women‘s sport, not just football, have been those who haven’t actually gone to the games,” she said on Wednesday, said.

“They’ve just got an opinion.

“So we want all of those people to get to the game to watch it to celebrate the athletes, to see the athleticism and the talent within both teams.”

Swans co-captain Brooke Lochland said the game was about “more than football” and being able to play the game at the SCG was something special

“We’ve trained on there a couple of times and that feeling being out there is pretty special. It’s like the girls in Melbourne get to play on the MCG,” she said.

“We just want to make football in Sydney huge ...we‘ve spoken a lot this morning about the growth of the game up here in NSW, and I think we’re on the right path.”

Swans captain Brooke Lochland in action (Photo by Mark Evans/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

But Lochland was adamant the football had to match the enthusiasm.

“We’ve said we want to be really competitive,” she said.

“We understand having a new group and the timeline to be able to build what we have in 10 weeks, we are on the right path.

“As long as we are learning and growing and getting better each week. We are learning on the fly.”

Originally published as AFLW 2022: First ever Sydney derby will be historic for the winner