GREATER Western Sydney forward Rebecca Beeson has set herself for a change of roles in her third season of the AFL Women's competition, but she knows it will be a gradual process.
Beeson has been a fixture inside 50 for the Giants over the past two seasons, but after spending last winter playing in Melbourne, she's hopeful of a move into the midfield this season.
The Sydney local won a VFLW premiership with Hawthorn and was named in the VFLW team of the year after starring as an onballer for the Hawks and wants to make her mark in the same position for the Giants.
The biggest issue she has is the number of stars standing in her way.
Alicia Eva and Courtney Gum were AFLW All Australians last season and Jess Dal Pos made the team the previous year, so it's a tough unit to crack.
But Beeson, who was impressive for the Giants in their practice games and is set to spend some time up the ground in Sunday's season-opener against Brisbane, told womens.afl she's prepared to work hard to earn her midfield minutes.
"Obviously I'm not going to jump straight in there because we have so many talented midfielders, but at least (coach) Alan (McConnell) has given me a crack and that's all I wanted," she said.
"I wanted a chance to prove myself so I'm trying to learn as much as I can from the coaches and my teammates, and hopefully things go my way.
"Testing myself against experienced players like Eva, Gum and Dal Pos to see their movement patterns and how they go about it can only help my development."
The off-season arrival of Christina Bernardi from Collingwood can only help Beeson's push to get up the ground, with Bernardi, an All Australian in 2018, adding class and depth to the Giants' forward line.
Beeson said playing as a permanent forward can get stale at times, so with Bernardi and Irish recruit Yvonne Bonner on board, she hopes to sneak up into the action a bit more.
"A lot of the time you feel like a pinball playing half-forward because you run up and back and the ball seems to just keep going over your head and you can't get a touch," she said.
"The role is tough to play and it's frustrating at times."
McConnell said he was impressed watching video of Beeson's form with Hawthorn last year and had no hesitation giving her a chance to switch things up once pre-season started in November.
"We've already got a number of girls in the midfield who have been All Australians across the first two seasons, so it's not easy to get in there," he said.
"But it does give us some flexibility because one of the things we learned last year is that if you trot out the same thing every week, it doesn't necessarily work.
"We need to have more flexibility and Bec playing in the midfield is certainly one of the options we've explored."
