The Brisbane Lions AFL Women's team completed their final training session of 2016 last night at Yeronga, ahead of the Christmas break.
It was a solid session according to Lions midfielder Jamie Stanton, who said the team has started to turn their focus to game sense drills.
“We’re starting to do some more game sense stuff, started with defensive exits then looking at our midfielders transferring the ball through the field and then hitting up our leads into the forward 50 and then finishing off with a goal,” Stanton told Lions TV.
All smiles on the last @aflwomens training of the year! pic.twitter.com/XrfHoyi5M5
— Brisbane Lions AFLW (@lionsaflw) December 19, 2016
An Ex-Junior Matilda soccer player, Stanton started her AFL journey at the Coolangatta Bluebirds at the start of this year.
According to Stanton the transition from soccer to AFL was an easy one, with the two sports sharing some certain skills.
“My past before playing AFL was playing soccer and a little bit of netball and then transferred over this year (to AFL) at the start of the year. I started playing in April," she said.
"What I’ve found the easiest parts to transfer over was the reading of the play and just watching the ball come in, either off the ground or in the air and just transferring it out to the other side of the field.”
On Satuday, the team made the trip down the M1 for an invaluable half day camp which involved a 2km time trial and skills session at Broadbeach AFC, followed by a recovery swim and an education session at Bond University.
Guest speaker and Club great Simon Black gave up his time to give the team an opportunity to ask questions and learn from his experiences.
“He just gave us some really good advice about being an experienced player and how to deal with all the pressures and just how to deal with playing footy in the limelight and how we can use our expertise as players to build up junior kids, but also to build as a team and build our experience,” Stanton said.
Wonderful for the @brisWomen's team to have Simon Black as a guest speaker over the weekend.When a champion speaks you listen #lionsAFLW pic.twitter.com/LAEsCvtSbN
— Brent Staker (@stakes14) December 19, 2016
The team were able to gain some valuable insight from Simon Black, but also made the most of the opportunity to mingle as a team, before players head home for the Christmas break.
“A lot of our players who have come from either Melbourne or Tassie or even WA, what was really good about the weekends session is, once we were done we went down to the beach and had a bit of a cook up and we ended up playing some cricket and just really welcomed them to the group, even though they’re the ones that are really making the team feel connected," Stanton said.
"It’s just good to get around them and make sure before they go home for the Christmas break, they feel like they want to come back and be a part of the group again.”
The AFL Women's team will return to training on January 5 at Cansdale Street, Yeronga.