Western Bulldogs key forward Bonnie Toogood says the last fortnight has been a “whirlwind” for herself and the AFLW team, following further COVID-19 disruptions.
The Bulldogs had their rounds two and three games postponed following a significant number of players entering the AFL Health and Safety Protocols, leaving them unable to field a team.
Toogood said it was an unfortunate but uncontrollable situation to be in.
“It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for us at the Bulldogs – you couldn’t have predicted that this was going to happen to us in rounds two and three,” Toogood told Nat Edwards and Sarah Black on the W Show.
“I had reports that in my sleep, I got quite distressed and was having hallucinations. Some of the things that I mumbled included ‘I ate the football! Our game got cancelled!’, so that was kind of crazy.
“Clearly I was stressed about footy at that time, but yeah I did get quite sick. The fever was the thing that got me.
“We’ve rallied together though and tried to stay positive. Now hopefully we can get our season under way very soon.”
While a number of Bulldogs trained from home while in isolation, Toogood explained how the rest of the group got through the two weeks.
“The club still held the training sessions we would have had all together – so (those unaffected) kept training,” she said.
“I think it’s been a really tough situation for them because they’re ready to go – they’re a bundle of energy and ready to play football, but we’ve had to delay their excitement as well just so we can get a bit more of the cavalry back.
“I think what I’ve loved over the last couple of weeks is that the AFL and the Club have put our health first – and that’s obviously the number one priority and what they’ve done.
“We’re on the mend – we’re getting girls back in leaps and bounds, so again will train, see how we go and pull up and recover.
The fixture reshuffles – which saw the Bulldogs’ round four match brought forward to Friday, and an additional match to be played next Tuesday – means they will go from playing no games in two weeks, to two games in five days.
Toogood said she was confident the team will be ready to play, despite the layoff between hit-outs.
“I’ve been more focussed on trying to get better – a lot of us have been sick, and the fatigue has been a bit of an issue.
“Going into this weekend we have trust in our strength and conditioning, the programming and the Club that we will be in best nick possible to play the Giants, give up a good fight and hopefully get the W (win).
“It’s been very interesting, but I have confidence in what we are going to produce for the rest of the season.”
