Richmond key defender Rebecca Miller says the AFLW Tigers are determined to bounce back this Sunday against Greater Western Sydney.
Speaking to 'Balls n All' following last Friday night's devastating one-point loss to West Coast, the experienced Tiger spoke candidly about the result.
“In our review, we acknowledged that West Coast was pretty good. But I think at times Richmond almost beat Richmond…we gave them three goals by half-time through free kicks,” Miller said.
“We didn't quite play our brand of footy in the first half.”
Four of the Tigers’ five goals came in the second half, and after trailing by 22 points at half-time, they saw themselves in front late in the final term.
In heartbreaking fashion, West Coast registered a game-winning goal in the dying moments of the contest to down the Tigers by one solitary point.
“(It was) a heartbreaking loss on Friday night, but we have got some perspective, which is a good thing,” Miller said.
Keen to swiftly bounce back from the one-point loss, Miller has her sights set on the Tigers’ Week 2 clash with the Giants.
“We come to the club every day with a growth mindset to get better,” she said.
“There'll be a couple of drills that we do in our main session specific to Giants and how they play, so we’ll set ourselves up on Thursday for our Sunday game,” Miller said.
Scheduled to play 11 games in ten weeks this season, with six coming within the next month, Miller is confident that her side's pre-season will hold them in good stead.
“Our strength and conditioning team have been preparing us for the whole pre-season, so we’ve got a few things in place, but there’s ten more opportunities for us,” Miller said.
The key defender, who was selected in the 2022 All-Australian squad of 40 and was runner-up in the Tigers’ best and fairest that same year has had an injury-impacted past two seasons.
Off the back of last season, Miller made some decisions to help her prioritise her football heading into her sixth year as a Tiger.
“I've done some reflection at the end of last season and I made the decision to step away from the leadership group to focus on myself and my footy a bit more,” Miller said.
“I've changed a few of my processes around, just to change it up a bit and give myself something else to think about and look forward to.
“It would be nice to get through (the season) unscathed... (but) I won't be taking a backward step.
”Hopefully we're playing more than 11 games and we get to finals.”
Richmond will return to its spiritual home for AFLW game day for the first time since 2022 this Sunday against the Giants, with the clash kicking off from 1.05pm.
