Lulu Pullar certainly knows how to make a first impression.
The former soccer star turned heads in her first training session as a Lion, blitzing the field in the annual 2km time trial.
Her impressive result one of just many in an evening that saw nine Lions record personal bests at the QE11 track.
“We know that Lulu comes from an accomplished athletic background and is a really strong runner,” said Women’s Physical Performance Manager, Matt Green.
“What we saw tonight was really what we expected to see from her and I’m really looking forward to seeing how she adapts to the AFLW environment.”
Electric midfielder Sophie Conway built on her improvements from last season to wipe another 12 seconds off her personal best and cross the finish line second.
Foundation Lion Emily Bates was also among the nine personal bests recorded on the night, finishing ninth overall and clearly demonstrating her tireless commitment and drive for improvement six years into her AFLW career.
Bates previously took out line honours at the 2018 event, and with a number of Lions finishing ahead of her this year, it’s proof that the squad is only getting faster year after year.
Green was pleased to see the team return to training hungry for improvement and development.
“It’s really clear from tonight that the whole group has gone away and done the work during the off-season,” Green said.
“We keep seeing improvement year on year with their running and it just shows how hungry they are as a group.
“Quite a few of the girls had really strong off seasons and put out some of their fastest 2km times tonight, Belle Dawes ran a 30 second pb and Bella Smith wiped 20 seconds off her best time.
“But even from our veteran players like Emily Bates and Ally Anderson, they both ran PBs tonight and have shown that they still have so much drive to keep improving themselves.”
Phoebe Monahan completed her time trial in Melbourne, recording the second fastest time overall of the Lions cohort.
Dakota Davidson, Orla O’Dwyer, Ruby Svarc, Sharni Webb, and Kate Lutkins did not run the 2km time trial.
With the AFLW season pushed back until early January, the Brisbane Lions have taken the opportunity to undertake limited additional training ahead of pre-season officially kicking off in mid-October.
Top 10
Lulu Pullar
Phoebe Monahan
Sophie Conway
Nat Grider
Greta Bodey
Belle Dawes
Cathy Svarc
Maria Moloney
Emily Bates
Courtney Hodder
