AFLW ROUND 1: MAGPIES ‘STUDENT’ ALSO A TOP TEACHER
ELIZA Hynes has plenty of lessons to offer her Collingwood teammates, even though she is on the steepest of AFLW learning curves.
The former national-level volleyballer is coming into the second AFLW season having played only four games of Australian rules, after the club recruited her as a rookie midway through last year.
But Magpies vice-captain Brittany Bonnici said Hynes’s extensive background — she played volleyball and beach volleyball professionally — is also helping the Magpies.
“It’s pretty exciting what we’ve been able to learn off her in the pre-season,” Bonnici said. “Coming from an Australian volleyball background, it’s something none of us have experienced before — seeing her characteristics and behaviour as an elite athlete.”
At 183cm, Hynes was recruited to back up AllAustralian Emma King in the ruck and also to develop as a key position player.
Hynes said that far from being worried about her lack of AFL experience she was excited. “I think I’m the winner, but hopefully I can shed a bit of light [for] them as well,” she said of her Magpie teammates.
“I don’t have too many nerves on the field because I don’t have too much of an expectation.
“I don’t know what my peak potential is yet, we’re still uncovering that.
“I want that big family, that big atmosphere.”
Hynes’s family background and the physical nature of volleyball have also prepared her well for a body contact sport.
“You can’t really shake that childhood nature — I’ve said a number of times, I’m always my brother’s brother, in a sense,” she said.
“We were bashing and crashing from day dot. Just because we were playing a non-contact sport, it’s very ‘contact’ in the sense of how you apply yourself.”
The AFLW season starts tomorrow night with the clash between the Magpies and Carlton at Princes Park.