BATHURST Giants coach Liz Kennedy would love for her squad to get the chance to defend their AFL Central West women's premiership this year, but her main hope is that season 2020 isn't "some half-hearted competition."
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AFL NSW-ACT said that over the next week it will work with those leagues under its banner - including AFLCW - to "finalise many league-specific operational decisions, including season length, fixtures, bylaws and financials."
That will provide some clarity for the Giants and their rivals such as the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers, but there are still a host of unknowns.
Senior community sport has still not been rubber stamped for a resumption from the coronavirus shutdown by the state government. At this stage only those aged 18 and under have been given the green light.
"The girls are itching to get back out there, but it's still an unknown. The juniors are full-on, they went from nothing to knowing when they can start whereas for us a couple of weeks ago it was we can start training from the first of June, but no start date," Kennedy said.
"It's tough with the lack of information I suppose. I'm not sure when we are going to start, if we are going to start.
"But then again I don't want some half-hearted competition either, that's male and female. I'm not sure how the other clubs are looking."
If the senior AFLCW competitions do go ahead, it will be the third consecutive year of the Bathurst Giants fielding a women's side.
In their inaugural season the Giants surprised themselves by qualifying for the grand final, a match they narrowly lost to the Dubbo Demons by seven points.
Last season Kennedy's side surpassed that impressive effort as they were crowned undefeated premiers. They beat the Bathurst Lady Bushrangers 7-8-50 to 4-1-25 in the decider.
Kennedy wants to be able to build on that and she knows what she would like to see in a season 2020 draw as well.
"It needs to be an even competition, not we play one team once and another team three times," she said.
"How they are going to align the women's competition with the men's competition, that's the other issue I have because we want to be there to watch our men. We don't want to be playing at different towns.
"It's a logistical nightmare for everyone, but whatever happens, happens. We will put a team on the paddock every week and see how we go."
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Kennedy acknowledges there is still a possibility the 2020 competition will not go ahead. The coach said that would be a disappointment given the momentum the Giants had built.
"We had great momentum," she said.
"The [pre-season] carnival that we got to play, yes it was only one day, but we got to play six games so we were very lucky, the girls feel like they got some competition. But then we had that massive break.
"Back on the training paddock I feel the momentum will build again. I think once we get back into a bit of a routine, the momentum will build again. As I keep saying the character of this group, as long as they're together, they're happy."
