GREATER Western Sydney captain Alicia Eva couldn't be happier to have Rebecca Beeson back on the footy field this year, but admits it was "touch and go" whether the latter would ever play again.
Injury kept the Giants midfielder to just four games in 2022, all of which were in the earlier season six, with an ankle issue followed by ongoing concussion symptoms.
"'Beeso' has had such a challenging last 12-18 months on and off the field," Eva said.
"Obviously concussion saw her out of the game for 12 months essentially so, you know, it was touch and go there whether she'd come back to footy. She's done a power of work; she's seen a lot of different people both in Sydney and all around the country to make sure that she's ready to go."
Beeson's return is something Eva thinks will aid in the execution of the Giants' new run-and-gun gameplan that began to be implemented with coach Cam Bernasconi last season.
"She's a really critical component of our gameplan because she's so smart. She's such an underrated player in the sense of how damaging she can be. Her hands, she can kind of make time stop, I liken her to Scott Pendlebury in that way. She's going to be really critical," Eva said.
The Giants have spent the offseason finessing that gameplan, which saw them leak big scores at times last year, with Eva admitting the club had "a bit of ground to make up" on other teams.
"The gameplan has evolved a little bit more," Eva said.
"(Bernasconi) introduced the run-and-gun gameplan last year, we want to put more speed on the ball. But what we've done in the off season is attention to detail, a lot more attention to detail.
"It's not just a run and carry handball game, there's method to that. We want to lock the ball inside our forward 50, play a forward-half game. There's method to it."
A forward-half game, with an attack that must adjust after the retirement of club leading goalkicker Cora Staunton. But now the Giants are relishing the opportunity to find an even spread of contributors on the line.
"It's quite a dynamic forward line. We want to have deeper entries as well, that's a big focus of ours and how we go about that, there's many different ways. But we're certainly more dynamic," Eva said.
"We want to have dual threats in the air and on ground level."
2022 draftee Zarlie Goldsworthy, defender-turned-forward Georgia Garnett, former Bulldog Isabel Huntington and even star midfielder Alyce Parker offer strength in attack.
"We've always known that Alyce Parker is such a threat in the air, she's taken many rebound marks, so she reads the flight of the ball really, really well," Eva said.
"I think if there was no such thing as injury, she would have spent a lot more time forward particularly last season, but of course when we lost a lot of the brunt of our midfield it kind of required 'Berna' to shuffle the decks a little bit."
And on the availability of Huntington? Eva "can't put a date on that" but is enthusiastic about what the forward can bring to the side.
Meanwhile through the middle of the ground, the Giants are ready to unleash ruck Fleur Davies – someone Eva has likened to a former Giants legend - who missed her first season due to a shoulder injury.
"To have a ruck come in, you can do a little more around stoppage. But also, her follow up, that's something I've been following very closely. It's not just the tap but what she does after the tap, it's very Shane Mumford-like," Eva said.
"She's been working with Rhi Metcalfe, a premiership player at the Adelaide Crows who's come up as a ruck coach for us so, to see Fleur work with Rhi who is just a fierce competitor, that'll just add another element to her game, and she's still so young and she's got a lot of footy ahead of her."
The first chance for the Giants to put it all into practice with points on the line will be in the second ever Sydney Derby in round one, on Sunday, September 3 at North Sydney Oval, where they'll look to go two from two against their cross town rivals.
