AFTER a disappointing 2023 campaign, GWS made an emphatic start to its 2024 AFL Women’s season on the weekend, downing the Western Bulldogs by over 10 goals.

Although the margin was big and the opponent may not have been strong, there were a number of things that GWS showed on the weekend that will have delighted fans and given them reasons to be hopeful after a number of tough seasons in a row.

One of the most pleasing things about how the Giants performed on the weekend was the diversification of options they have in key situations.

One thing that GWS has struggled with in the past was relying on too few players to get the job done. Whether that be Alyce Parker through the middle or Cora Staunton up forward, it has often come down to a small few to try and manufacture a win, which has often not been successful.

But now, things are different, and it is not just in one part of the ground.

Several players played out of their usual positions on the weekend, to pretty high success.

The first was forward turned defender Isabel Huntington, who provided a different type of defensive option for the Giants. Thrown in amongst a relatively tall Giants backline, her bigger presence is complimentary to the more agile, spoiling types of defenders GWS already had. This also translated in the stats, where she finished with five marks, two tackles and a clearance to go with her 12 disposals.

The second was defender turned forward Tarni Evans, whose booming kick not only gave the Giants an extra decent shot at goal, but also helped clear defensive lines and get the ball to the deeper marking targets such as Zarlie Goldsworthy. She is also a strong marking target herself.

Speaking of Goldsworthy, she too has increased her versatility in recent times, now reliably switching between her more traditional forward role and a role in the midfield.

The other component of versatility was the number of goalkickers GWS had. The Giants kicked 10 majors from five different goalkickers, three of which kicked multiple goals. They also came from a variety of roles, from forwards (Georgia Garnett) to midfielders (Parker), rucks (Eilish O’Dowd) and those playing multiple positions (Goldsworthy and Evans). This is a stark contrast to the days where Staunton was the only reliable scoring outlet.

The true test will be to see if they can replicate that kind of performance against Richmond on Sunday. Although the Tigers did not perform very well in their opening match, they are a step up in quality from where the Bulldogs are at the moment, and will be looking to bounce back hard from that round one loss. If the Giants can replicate what they put out in Round 1 though, it will do them the world of good in more ways than one.