IT'S THE simple question that brought Alicia Eva to tears.

"Why did you stay?"

Captaining Greater Western Sydney from 2020-2023 was far from straightforward.

Forward Jacinda Barclay passed away in October 2020.

The Giants AFLW team were hit harder by 2021 COVID restrictions than most of their counterparts.

Bríd Stack suffered a traumatic broken neck injury while the team was on the road.

And the losses mounted, season after season, the Giants anchored to the bottom third of the ladder.

Through it all, Alicia Eva stayed. And captained and ran her legs off and coached and campaigned and tackled and harried. And stayed.

But the 35-year-old has finally made the call to hang up the boots.

"I think that's why I get emotional. I stayed because of the people and the journey we were all going on. I stayed because I so desperately wanted to experience success with this group, because we'd gone through so many challenges. Just for the love of the space and the group and the team," Eva told AFL.com.au.

The Victorian moved up to Greater Western Sydney ahead of the 2018 season, having started her AFLW career with Collingwood, and playing with Melbourne Uni before the introduction of the league.

She was greeted at the airport by AFL coach Leon Cameron, director of coaching Al McConnell – who was yet to be appointed head of the coachless W side – and chief operating officer James Avery.

"There were so many girls who made the move to the Giants in those early years, which meant moving away from social groups, family, friends. If I was back home in Melbourne, there would be the opportunity to put your footy hat at the door and have a coffee with your school mates who don't care all that much about the game," Eva said.

"I think two-thirds of our list now are NSW/ACT, but early years, it certainly wasn't that. Your social group, your family support were the people at the footy club. That's why I stayed.

"My idea of what I was chasing, and football success, became a little bit different after we went through those really big life events. I couldn't see myself playing anywhere else."

The passing of Barclay in October 2020 rocked the tight-knit playing group who had formed their second family around the Olympic Park base.

With the 2021 season slated to begin in late January, and post-Christmas COVID outbreaks hitting Sydney hard in an era of state border closures, minimal public availability of RATs and a vaccination program still in its infancy, the Giants made a late-December dash for border town Albury.

State regulations were changing daily, and it meant AFLW teams had very little certainty because of circumstances out of their control, with pre-season schedules thrown out the window.

And all through this, Giants players were still mourning the loss of their teammate, with Eva, McConnell and then-head of footy Bri Harvey trying to hold the group together.

"I probably fell too far into, 'what does everyone else need?', rather than what I needed. There was a lot of 'what could I have done?'," Eva said, only briefly touching on the death of Barclay.

"That period of time, just after we lost 'Barcs' and going into a hub – it was just one of those things where if you didn't laugh, you'd genuinely cry and fall into a place where you wouldn't stop crying. That was just where we were at.

"Poor Nic Livingstone was trying to help in every way she could, providing clarity on where we'd be. I'd be on the phone and she'd be like, 'what do you need?' and I'd say, 'a psych', and she would make that happen.

"She even managed to arrange a chat for me with Craig Bellamy. Melbourne Storm had just won a flag in a hub, and she knew him, so we chatted on the phone for an hour about what the team might need and how they got through, bits and pieces like that."

The three-day period leading into and including GWS' practice match against Adelaide summed up the whole experience, with plenty of chaos, fear, footy and "if you don't laugh, you'll cry" moments.

"One morning we were in Albury, we were told to get up and drive to Canberra that day. So we all jumped in, got to the airport, flights were cancelled, we were standing there in the middle of Canberra airport, not knowing if we were going to Gold Coast or Adelaide," Eva said.

"All our bags and everything were there, the clubs had to hire security guards to look after all our property overnight. Then the next morning we flew to Adelaide, major delays, we finally get there and we're supposed to play a practice game the next day against the Crows.

"It was going to be the first game since having lost Jacinda, and it was going to be an emotional game, because Chelsea (Randall) and a few of the Adelaide girls also knew Jacinda. There was all this heightened emotion.

"COVID tests, shoving things up your nose to even get into South Australia. The team's split across two hotels, there's no food, and then Alan's in the property van trying to get things out, and we're meant to have a meeting in 10 minutes. All of a sudden, the coaches run through the foyer, and Elle Bennetts and I realised they were looking for a first-aid kit.

"Alan had stood up in the property van, split his head open and required stitches. He looked like a galah, because there was all this blood in his white hair.

"That was the team meeting before that game. Then we played that game, and Bríd Stack had that horrific incident, and thank god she was okay. It was just one thing after another.

"It was tough, but that group of players just banded together and took everything in their stride. It was kind of a theme of rolling with the punches. It was really difficult, but a lot of those girls will be lifelong friends.

"Footy was our passion, and we wanted to be on this journey, but we had to be realistic that people needed their space to vent or show emotion, space to kind of let down their hair in what was a tinderbox environment. Not that anyone was lighting fires or anything, but things just kept happening."

Eva has always had a burning love for coaching and was already making headway into her post-playing ambitions when AFL.com.au first interviewed her back in 2016, working with junior club East Malvern and TAC Cup side Calder Cannons.

She's been coaching within GWS' men's program in various roles since 2019, and this year took on the Giants female academy head coach role in a quest to upskill in the broader managerial requirements, including coordinating development coaches at the club's three hubs in western Sydney, Canberra and in the Riverina.

"My playing and coaching journeys have been on two separate tracks, running alongside each other. I've worked really hard over the last few years to create opportunities to walk into post-playing," Eva said.

"What I picked up in those years, working with different coaches like Leon Cameron, Mark McVeigh, Adam Kingsley, Wayne Cripps (midfield coach) – I've worked with a lot of great coaches. That's without even talking about Al McConnell and Cam Bernasconi and all the coaches who have been part of my playing journey.

"It's probably the natural step for me, the coaching space. I don't know where, there's a few different options on the table, but I want to finish playing before we delve into there.

"It's funny, I've had this conversation about being ready for a senior coaching role with a few different people recently. Jason Saddington heads up our GWS Academy, and I was chatting to him last week. Imposter syndrome is a big thing for me, but he said, 'you are ready', and as someone who has seen me work over the last 12 months, that instils a great amount of belief in me.

"I'm realistic that it has to be a decision that's right for me and my family in the long-term, and it's going to be something I think long and hard over.

"One of the most special parts of my journey is that I coached 'Parks' (Alyce Parker), Georgia Garnett, Tarni (Evans), before they were even W players.

"That's why I want this group to have success so badly, whether that's a premiership or whatever that looks like. I want them to experience finals footy, more highs than disappointment. It doesn't come easy and not everyone who plays footy gets to experience it."

Eva and partner Claudia welcomed baby Patrick 18 months ago, and he's given the footy-mad woman some perspective.

"Even before W, everything I was building, everything I was working towards, was football. It's been my life. Sometimes it's probably been detrimental," Eva said.

"Paddy doesn't care about kicks, marks and handballs – yet. I've always been a player who has worn my heart on my sleeve, is emotional, feels losses deeply. So having him around in the past 18 months has been really important, and for the good times, has been very special."

"When the scoreboard wasn't going our way earlier this year, and it was slog and I knew I was going to make this (retirement) call – Alan told me I had to find the joy in football in these last few weeks. How good is it that my son gets to watch me play?

"I've been a bit of a larrikin in my celebrations the last few weeks – I did 'the propeller', which is his favourite Wiggles song. He didn't know it, but in time when he's a bit older he can look back on it."

Eva has been an integral bridge between the old and the new, a pioneer in her own right who helped lay the foundations for what is now the AFLW, 10 years on.

And while her playing days are done, she'll continue to shape women's football in this country from the coaches box with her trademark care, intensity and passion.

"I've been very vocal on competition committees and around the landscape of the (old) state-based draft and the fact the Giants had to do things the hard way early on to get the list and program to a level that was competitive with other sides. I make no apologies for my commentary and thoughts around that, and I'm a fierce advocate for making sure every team had an equitable footing," Eva said.

CALLING TIME All the AFLW retirements and delistings

"I'd just like to thank my family. It was a huge move, moving up to Sydney, and part of why I've stayed is because you don't make big life choices without giving it your all. My whole extended family have been through this journey with me, along with wonderful people like Chyloe Kurdas.

"W is only one part of my footy journey, and it's been life-changing. I'm one of a handful of players left who played with those who didn't get to experience W because they were too old – Debbie Lee, Shannon McFerran. The significance of playing in AFLW when they weren't granted the opportunity has never been lost on me. I've ridden this amazing wave where I haven't had to step out of footy, and I'm leaving now because it's right for me and my family.

"I wish we had more on-field success because I know what people have put into it, and so many of our girls moved away from home and support networks. But apart from Jacinda, I wouldn't change anything."