Adelaide two-time AFLW Premiership star Eloise Jones says the countdown to pre-season is well and truly on, with just 18 days remining in the off-season.
Jones, who was preparing for her seventh AFLW season, says she used the off-season to re-set, following a heavy workload in 2022, which included two seasons in one year.
While taking some time away from footy to re-tune, the 24-year-old has kept her fitness up, getting together with her teammates running sessions in the lead up to the May 29 pre-season start date.
“It’s nice that we have a date and that’s coming up pretty fast,” Jones said.
“We have been back to just pre-season running and all those sorts of things so far.
“The club has been really good in facilitating some time for us where we can smash out our running and spend time at the club, surrounded by the facilities and equipment.”
Jones had an injury interrupted 2022, suffering a serious foot injury during Adelaide’s Season Six Grand Final triumph.
The utility returned for Adelaide's Season Seven campaign and featured in all but one game, although conceded she was not fully fit.
Now, after some time off to properly rest her foot, Jones was confident of being able to hit the ground running later this month.
“In the first season last year I hurt my foot really badly and had these little fractures and some bone bruising, so I spent six weeks on crutches and six weeks in a moon boot,” Jones said.
“I did manage to get up and about for the second season, but I was probably running at not a great percentage of fitness.
“My main focus in the time off has been to do a whole heap of rehab with the physios.
“I spent a fair bit of time experiencing a lot of pain with the foot injury but it’s feeling a lot better now.”
Jones is one of the Crows' more experienced players, having lined up in 53 games over the past six seasons and is also part of the leadership group.
Speaking to AFC Media, Jones said she was enjoying the opportunity to be a leader and mentor the younger players.
“It’s really exciting to continually get voted in by all your teammates and I’ve loved every second of it,” Jones said.
“We’ve got a really young team this year which is probably a bit different to previous years where we’ve had more older heads.
“I’m surrounded by fantastic people and athletes as well from the likes of Chels (Chelsea Randall), Noffy (Ebony Marinoff), Stevie (Stevie-Lee Thompson) and Sez (Sarah Allan) – all phenomenal athletes and people as well.
“Hopefully we can continue building and have a successful year.”
Adelaide's 2023 AFLW pre-season kicks off on May 29, before the campaign starts at the end of September.
Crows 2023 AFLW Memberships available here.
