SISTERS IN ARMS

Melissa Doyle meets AFLW captain Alicia Eva, who shares the heartbreak and anguish her team experienced with the devastating death of fellow player Jacinda Barclay

The field was bathed in the golden glow of a late Sunday afternoon in March, like a beautiful curtain closing on the season from hell. The small but rowdy home crowd was on its feet clapping as the 16 GWS Giants players congratulated the victors then made their way o the field in Blacktown. The spectators were louder than normal. “They were seeing what we were feeling,” recalls captain Alicia Eva, “unbridled, fearless football.”

Bruised, scratched, hearts broken and tanks empty, they had lost to Carlton and missed going through to the finals by just one point. It’s a sporting cliché for a reason, but they had left nothing on the field.

Inside the change room, they huddled in a group, still wearing black armbands in mourning of their teammate. They slung their arms across one another’s shoulders like a chain holding them together physically and emotionally, and reflected on an extraordinary 12 months marked by death, injury and a season thrown into chaos. They were heartbroken but proud. It had taken grit, but they had made it.