Gabby O’Sullivan has enjoyed the opportunity to build her match fitness over the past fortnight after the WAFLW season resumed earlier this month.
The East Fremantle product has returned to her WAFLW club where she played a crucial role in their 2019 premiership, winning the Lou Knitter Medal as the best on ground in the Grand Final.
She played in round one against Claremont and round two against West Perth, kicking a goal in both games and amassing 24 disposals against the Falcons as she tests out the shoulder she injured against Adelaide in round seven of Season 7.
“It’s to see before we get stuck into pre-season where I’m at with my recovery and if I can handle playing games,” O’Sullivan said.
“I’m gaining confidence in my shoulder by playing, while I’m still training with Freo girls, nothing can simulate match fitness and the demands of actually playing games.
“It’s good to feel more comfortable and confident every week. These couple games that I’m playing, it’s just adding to that level of comfort that I’ll have heading into pre-season for the ninth time.”
O’Sullivan is relishing playing for the Sharks for the first time since 2021.
“It’s nice to get back to my roots playing WAFLW footy with the girls that I’ve played with in the past as well as playing with some girls that I coached at the Rogers Cup level,” O’Sullivan said.
“I didn’t realise I would be one of the older players, we have a super young team at East Fremantle.
“When I went down for the first couple of training sessions, I’d speak up during the drills and the girls were really hanging onto what I had to say and they were just wanting to be sponges and feed off what I was saying.
“That’s how I learn as well, by teaching other people, so I’ve been able to do that a little bit down at East which is really rewarding I guess.”
O’Sullivan is set to play one more game this Saturday against Subiaco at Leederville Oval.
“That’s the plan, they look like they’re going to be really strong and they’ve got a few former AFLW players so they’ll definitely give us a run for their money,” O’Sullivan said.
“That will be a real good challenge. I didn’t get many tackles last week so that’s the goal for this week, hopefully I get to do that a little bit more.”
