The energy is building for Waalitj Marawar, and the team is starting to reap the benefits from months of hard work, key defender Jeremy McGovern says.

McGovern credits the crowd engagement and excitement of young players coming into their roles for an exciting recent patch of football, but ultimately, it’s all part of the build that started before this season.

 “I feel like we’ve had the energy and been working hard and doing all these great things for a while now,” McGovern said.

“At the moment we’re starting to get a little bit of reward with what we’re doing and all the hard work we started 12 months ago.

“But the energy definitely builds, the fans are starting to come and get really on board again which is great for us.

“Obviously Harley (Reid) is bringing a lot of hype as well, not just him, you’ve got ‘Reubs’ (Reuben Ginbey), ‘Chess’ (Campbell Chesser), all these young boys are starting to flourish into some roles, and I think everyone can sort of see the path we’re going.

“So, it is definitely exciting, and the energy is high, but it’s very much off the back of a lot of hard work that we’ve been building to over the last couple of years.

“It’s great, we’re still trying to build and we’re still trying to get better, but it’s definitely enjoyable when you get all the fans along and you can start seeing these young boys coming into their roles.”

Waalitj Marawar defeated premiership contenders Narrm by 35 points on Sunday, their third win at home so far this season, and McGovern said the fans are restoring Optus Stadium to the fortress it once was for the boys in blue and gold.

“It was obviously a great win for the footy club and all the boys out there,” McGovern said.

“We’ve won a couple at home now which is great, but we’re still looking to hopefully build on it throughout the rest of the year.

“It definitely helps when we get 50-odd thousand fans there every week.”

McGovern and fellow key defender Tom Barrass have both struggled with their fair share of injuries over the past few years, but this season has seen a consistency in the backline, and around he ground, that has been a real benefit to the team.

“It definitely helps having the same people out there, not just the backline, I think the team as a whole,” McGovern said.

“We’ve been pretty consistent with the boys we’ve been putting out most weeks and building that continuity definitely helps.

“Down back is very much the same, myself and Tom haven’t played a lot of footy together over the last couple of years, so it’s been nice.

“But also, the rest of the backline is pretty stable at the moment, so definitely enjoying it and we’re just looking to improve each week.”

The four-time All-Australian defender’s absence was sorely felt in the 2023 season, with McGovern just pleased that he is back contributing to the team on-field.

“I’m out there, I’m just happy to be out there to be honest, and contributing to the group and the team,” McGovern said.

“I don’t really dig to deep into my personal form, I’m just trying to perform each week and do what I can to help us win.

“I’m just glad to be stringing a couple of games together so far and touch wood that I can keep doing that and keep helping to try and get wins and keep growing as a young group.”

Waalitj Marawar face Kuwarna (Adelaide) on Sunday at Adelaide Oval and McGovern said it’s going to take a team effort to nullify the Crows’ weapons.

“They’ve got a great forward line, they’ve got a great team as a whole and they’ve been in really good form the last few weeks,” McGovern said.

“We don’t know full matchups yet, we’ll go over them later on throughout the week, but obviously ‘Tex’ (Taylor Walker) is a first-class player, he’s been a very good player for a very long time.

“(Izak) Rankine is out, which is a little bit handy for us, you don’t like seeing anyone get injured but glad he’s got this one off for us.

“But they’ve got plenty of people who rotate through that forward line, their midfield is strong, down back is strong, so it will be a team effort I think.”