AFLW 2023: Maddy Prespakis on reasons behind increased scoring in round 1

Scores were up in round 1 and so were other key AFLW metrics. Ahead of the first game at Windy Hill in 32 years, Essendon star Maddy Prespakis explains why.

Madison Prespakis of the Bombers in action.

Star Essendon midfielder Maddy Prespakis says the electric and high-standard opening round of AFL Women’s is a direct result of connection among players who are becoming more seasoned as the competition continues to develop.

Scoring across the opening round was the highest of any round 1 since the competition’s inception, while kicking efficiency was the best it has been since 2017 – and at its highest since the competition’s rapid expansion.

The numbers don’t lie, and Prespakis said she could feel the shift in Essendon’s win over Hawthorn at Frankston on Saturday night.

“You could just tell – the skills had just gotten better,” the 2020 league best-and-fairest winner said.

“We’ve had more time to work together, and for us as a new team coming into our second year, we’ve been able to connect in the off-season together and get to know each other a bit more off the field, which I think helps.

“The connection we have, we spent a lot of time together over summer and when we got back to training, we weren’t getting to know each other anymore – that trust element of it, you’ve got it there on the field.

“It’s good to see it come to fruition.”

In the first season of AFLW, players were contracted for nine hours of training.

The most recent collective bargaining agreement – with a new deal currently being thrashed out – sees players contracted for 20 hours per week, with most clubs now opting for daytime training sessions in what has been a welcome shift for players.

Essendon AFLW players Steph Cain (left), Maddy Prespakis and Bonnie Toogood at Windy Hill, where the Bombers will play for the first time in 32 years on Sunday. Picture: Michael Klein

“Being there during the day, you have that time to spend at the club to do extras like put more time into your body in terms of your recovery, more skills, because you’re not rushing around and trying to get home before 11pm at night,” Prespakis said.

“It’s just had a different feel this year. There’s been more expected of everyone, and everyone has stood up and taken that.”

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan noted the rise in athleticism and skills in the opening round, while Hawthorn coach Bec Goddard – who led Adelaide to the competition’s first flag in 2017 – said before the season started that young players in particular had transformed their bodies and game in the wake of a full pre-season on the track and in the gym.

Prespakis’s preparation for her sixth season in the competition, for example, has included time in the ring.

“For me, I have to put in the work pretty early to try and get myself ahead,” she said.

“I’ve got the footy sense, I’ve got the skills, but my natural athleticism probably isn’t there.

“I probably have to work on (my fitness base) more than everyone else, so when our season finished last year and we weren’t in finals, there was still four weeks left, so I kept my body moving as much as possible … but not becoming bored of the same type of training.

“(I did) some boxing a couple of days a week.

“I feel like I put myself in a really good position leading into the pre-season … and trusted in the work that I’d done leading into that.”

While athletes are part-time, Prespakis said “we’re still training 12 months a year” to better their game.

The lifelong Essendon supporter will return with her teammates to Windy Hill this weekend to face St Kilda on Sunday afternoon, with elite-level footy is set to be played at the Bombers’ spiritual home for the first time in 32 years.

The 22-year-old – who would often visit the ground for family days and training sessions as a kid and “remembers it clear as day” with her grandmother Bernadette – said her “whole family is just as excited as me” at the prospect of playing at the historic ground.

“Coming here so much as a little kid, to be able to play here is pretty cool,” she said.

“I can’t wait.”