West Coast AFLW senior coach Luke Dwyer wants his squad to train with purpose during its first official pre-season session at Mineral Resources Park tonight.
But he also wants them to have fun.
Speaking to the media earlier today, Dwyer said the players were champing at the bit to hit the track and get their maiden summer slog underway.
“It’s an exciting night for the football club,” Dwyer said.
“It’s our inaugural pre-season starting date for this squad and I want them to enjoy the moment, enjoy the fact that they are running around with each other and wearing the blue and gold and kicking the footy.
“I just want them to enjoy each other’s company and really train well.”
Tonight’s session will be the first step on a long road to the team’s round one fixture against Collingwood at Melbourne’s Victoria Park on February 9.
And as excited as he was for the pre-season to get underway, Dwyer knows it will be a mad dash to get his team firing on all cylinders before its AFLW debut.
However, he said the club had methodically planned the team’s training program to have them ready for the start of the 2020 season.
“We feel like we’re really well planned going into our first pre-season from a training structure, from a staffing structure and from a resource point of view,” he said.
“Our pre-season will be strongly based around getting the girls conditioned and obviously allowing their skills to flourish in training, but also we’ll be able to get some match simulation into them over the pre-season, which will give us a really good look at what our side (is like) and the best balance for the side going into the first pre-season games is.
“Our coaching group has really good experience and it’s a good blend. We have Michelle Cowan who has coached her own team in the AFLW and we have some former players at the football club (midfield coach Andrew Embley and key position coach Ryan Turnbull) who have been really invested in our program, not only in recent times but also in our academy programs.
“We expect that the competition is going to be a really high level, but our efforts are all based around consistency and being a competitive team.”