Delma Gisu to debut in GWS Giants final game of 2019
She didn’t think it would happen, then GWS Giants coach Al McConnell said the words Delma Gisu had waited all season to hear.
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DELMA Gisu wondered if the day would come.
She has been desperate to finally step onto the field for the GWS Giants, but with one round left in the season she thought her chance had passed.
Each week coach Al McConnell had told her, ‘Sorry, you’re not playing this week’. Gisu expected much the same when it came to naming the team to take on Geelong at Canberra tonight [FRI].
Then as McConnell addressed the players earlier this week, she was completely taken aback when he announced she’d made the side.
“I was sitting there and Al was giving a talk to all us girls,” Gisu said.
“I saw the camera but I wasn’t expecting it, then Al was like, ‘Congratulations to Delma, you’re making your debut this weekend’.
“I was speechless. I didn’t know what to do. I was just hiding my face. Finally, I get a game.”
It’s been a hard slog on and off the field for Gisu.
She’s the first female Torres Strait Islander to be drafted by the Giants and the move from her home of Mer Island has been difficult.
Without the support of her teammates and housemates, she wonders if she would have made it this far.
Now she’s set to play her first AFLW game, and will stay on in Sydney to play the off-season with the Giants to give herself the best shot possible of featuring heavily in 2020.
“It was really hard at first but now I’m settling in,” Gisu said.
“The two girls I’m staying with, Tanny (Tanya Hetherington) and Swanny (Emma Swanson). Thanks to them, they’ve been encouraging me and checking up on me that I’m OK. They’re always there.
“It was tough (at first). Tough. In trying to balance football and being away from family, was tough.
“Once I got settled in properly, had a job, balancing that and training was good in helping me a lot in thinking about home. I was focusing more on football and work.”
This season, the Giants haven’t matched the on-field success of 2018 with just the one win to date, over Collingwood 36 (5.6) to 27 (4.3) in round four.
While they would have liked more ticks in the win column this year, the club also has its eye on the future.
The development of players like Gisu — AFL players who can be at the Giants long term — is at the heart of that.
“Seeing the other clubs have gone and recruited people from different backgrounds, different countries, different sports, we’re sort of paving the way in developing women in their sport at the moment,” said experienced Giants midfielder Jess Dal Pos.
“We’ve re-recruited a couple of people and we have quite a few young girls coming through who in three or four years are going to be legends of the league.
“I think we’ve done a lot of personal development for the five years or so, I think we have a really core group that will hang around and do what needs to be done.”
GWS Giants v Geelong Cats
UNSW Canberra, 7.15pm Friday
Giants team
FB: Pepa Randall, Ellie Brush, Amanda Farrugia
HB: Phoebe Monahan, Tanya Hetherington, Nicola Barr
C: Rebecca Beeson
HF: Yvonne Bonner, Jessica Dal Pos, Elle Bennetts
FF: Delma Gisu, Cora Staunton, Christina Bernardi
RR: Erin McKinnon, Alyce Parker, Alicia Eva
Originally published as Delma Gisu to debut in GWS Giants final game of 2019
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