“We needed to be where we were, to get where we are.”

It’s the belief of AFL Commissioner and inaugural GIANTS board member, Gabrielle Trainor AO, that the hard-fought losses across the AFLW team’s early years have shaped the character and spirit of the club.

Across the 2017 season, the club suffered a win-loss record of 1-5 (and the competition’s first draw against Fremantle).

Under the scrutiny of football media and up against the club’s expectations for success, the AFLW team looked to the losses to reshape and re-energise in 2018, under a new coach in Alan McConnell.

“I’d been coaching in the men’s space at the elite level since ‘91 and the club got a license to be in the program for the first season, it was an interesting year,” McConnell says.

“Lots and lots of challenges.

“Over the course of that first season, I spent some time in the background just supporting the staff with ideas and encouraging and on the back of that first season, I found the environment very energised despite the results.”

Having held the Director of Coaching post under Leon Cameron, McConnell intimately understood the challenges of developing a team in Western Sydney but the nuances of coaching a women’s team were foreign.

“From a purely football perspective, I’d had the opportunity to observe for 12 months but I had no idea about the locker rooms,” McConnell said.

“I did a whole lot of research around the difference between coaching men and women and there’s not a lot of stuff out there, wasn’t a lot of research, there were some fundamental learnings from my research that probably came to fruition.”

McConnell immediately began shifting the pieces on-field to shape a team in his own image, one focused on winning contested ball and being total competitors across the park.

It resulted in a player overhaul and the recruitment of two players who went on to become GIANTS’ legends: Alicia Eva and Cora Staunton, as well as eventual 2018 AFLPA Best and Fairest Courtney Gum.

“Recruiting the first Irish player to come and play within the competition [Cora Staunton] was one of the more inventive approaches.

“I didn’t have great faith that she would be a great player in the competition, but I knew she knew what winning took.

Courtney Gum was at the time a 35-year-old mum who left a family and thriving chiropractic business in Adelaide to play out of Western Sydney.

“Gum went on to win the (AFLPA) MVP that year, which made me look like a genius, but the reality was it was a no brainer,” McConnell says.

“They had very different briefs and responsibilities and much to my amazement Cora turned out to be a pretty fair player as well.”

As was true for his captain Amanda Farrugia, McConnell found that a dual focus on the off-field culture and on-field competitiveness remoulded the women’s environment.

“This is an oversimplification, but the notion that men play well and then they belong and that women need to belong and then they’ll play well was fundamentally true,” McConnell says.

“There are certainly differences within that context, but I found that a sense of belonging was particularly important in an all-female locker room.”

The GIANTS ended the 2018 season with a much-improved three wins, in a shift that Trainor believes helped change the conversation on women’s football in Sydney.

“There hadn’t been the continuous pathway for women to play footy [in Sydney],” Trainor says.

“I think the lack of skill levels at something like the Sydney Women’s AFL was made up for with huge enthusiasm.”

Trainor had just joined the AFL Commission when the announcement of a national Women’s League was released.

“I’d just joined the commission when Gill McLachlan decided to turbo charge the timetable and accelerate it by three years,” Trainor says.

“Of course, there was going to be one license offered to NSW and I thought, I really hope the GIANTS get it, they deserve it.

“It aligns so much with the innovation and the spirit of adventure that the GIANTS have.”

Trainor, who had spent over two decades dedicated to the development of the game in Sydney believes the early seasons of the GIANTS AFLW were defined by a spirit of determination and belief in the bigger idea.

“Adversity, difficulty, challenge, the constant having to rally and motivate yourself,” Trainor says.

“No doubt that that builds fortitude and I think that is characteristic of our club and women’s team. Happened at the very beginning with our men as well.”

“The GIANTS of all clubs had the least to work with, they had to recruit players from wherever they possibly could,” Trainor says.

“I think that goes to the values of the GIANTS that we do things the hard way sometimes but the never surrender, the boldness and the courage that breeds binds them and creates a club with extraordinary strength.”

The boldness of applying for a license in the first place, cemented by the commitment of a playing group continuing to perform under adversity is a testament to the character of the club, Trainor believes.

“To put your hand up for a license when you had ground zero to work with, you don’t have player pathways, you didn’t have that group of women who had been playing together for a long time to draw from was an incredible leap of faith.”

“It showed the character of women who came in that first year and that set of values and commitment and that ‘Never Surrender’ character still shows through.

“Every club likes to think they’ve got a unique set of people and a unique way of doing things, but you really see it writ large in the character of the GIANTS.”

Trainor’s commitment to the game in Sydney and her impact at the GIANTS was repaid when the club’s AFLW club champion award was named in her honour.

“It was Tony Shepherd who called me to ask if I’d consent to having that honour. I was completely overwhelmed,” Trainor says.

“What a joy it is just to be a part of the best and fairest celebration. I’m incredibly honoured and attached to this club.”

It’s a testament to her ongoing commitment not just to the GIANTS but to growing the game in New South Wales.

“Women’s footy is a growth engine for us and there is something special about women who are inclined to play our game,” she says.

“Clearly nowadays the transformation of the skill level and the commitment and professionalism is chalk and cheese to where it was.”

“It’s such a joy to see these incredible athletes now, who have been able to avail themselves of a full AFL pathway performing to the most elite level.

“It’s extraordinary.”