The AFLW pre-season is now only days away and after last season’s heartbreak, the Cats have picked out where they need to improve.
The AFLW pre-season will officially begin on May 29, with round 1 to take place in early September.
Nina Morrison is ready to get into pre-season. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images
After rising from 12th in season six to fifth last season, the Cats had their hearts broken in a narrow elimination final loss at home to North Melbourne.
Morrison said she took a couple of weeks to get over the two-point defeat but was now ready to dive into a big pre-season to carry on the rise up the ladder.
“Obviously we laid some really good foundations over the last couple of years and made some significant improvement and the next challenge is to keep improving on that,” she said.
“I think it just comes back to getting stuck into pre-season and doing the work from day dot. There are no guarantees just because we had a good season that it will just continue but we will put the foundations in place and put in the work ahead of the season.
“It was a bit of a bitter end (losing to North Melbourne). We will definitely be looking to go one better, I think that was part of the challenge for us last season: how we performed against the top sides. So that will certainly be in our focus because the girls were a bit disappointed in how it finished.”
Nina Morrison gets to meet Dulux dog Gerti. Picture: Mark Wilson
Across the league, AFLW players have been working away unofficially in recent months and Morrison said she had been impressed by running buddy Zali Friswell over the off-season break.
Still just 22, Morrison said she was hoping to bed down a clear role in the upcoming season after being moved around the field at times last year.
“I was playing a few different positions across mid, wing and forward and I think over this pre-season I will be just getting some more role clarity around those positions,” she said.
“Hopefully a big focus for us is how we can sharpen up our attack and I’m keep to play a role in that.”
Morrison and Tom Stewart joined local youngsters in launching an initiative with Dulux over the next three years where local AFL Barwon clubs can nominate to win a painted makeover of their clubrooms.