RARING to go.
New Blue Harriet Cordner is keen to get pre-season underway, having missed the AFLW last season with an ACL injury while at Richmond.
Now fully rehabbed and at a new club, Cordner can’t wait for her new adventure with the Blues.
“I’ve been working with Liam (physio) for the past month that I’ve been here and been doing some work with people outside as well just to fine tune the last bits of my rehab,” Cordner said.
“I’ve had a fair bit of time out now, so that’s given the knee a lot of time to get really strong and I’ll be raring to go come August, but also raring to go for the start of pre-season.”
Coming across from Richmond in the off-season, the 30-year-old defender was vice captain for the Tigers, noting she leads mainly by example rather than direction.
Admitting a big reason she was picked up was for her experience and leadership mindset, Cordner is hoping she can give her younger teammates something to look up to.
“I find that I lead by the way that I train and the way that I play so I think it’s in training standards, elite behaviours and that sort of thing,” she said.
“That’s just naturally how I play my footy and my training so I feel like that’s something that’s often been seen as a leadership quality.”
Already becoming a mentor to some younger Blues, Cordner said she’s had the likes of Keeley Skepper and Mia Austin training with her and looking for guidance.
As for the rest of the team, they’ve welcomed her from the get go and Cordner admits she really feels like she’s part of the group already.
“I’ve been hanging out with ‘Skep’ a bit – she’s been stuck to my hip a bit, which is nice,” she said.
“I just did a running session with Mia, which was really good – I think she’s going to be an absolute jet, I’m looking forward to doing some contested stuff with her when it comes forwards versus backs stuff.
“It’s been awesome to just jump in the skills with the girls straight away and I feel like they’ve opened me with open arms which has been great.”
Coming to all of the skill sessions since her arrival at the Club, Cordner is committed to making a difference in what has been dubbed a ‘new era’ for the Carlton AFLW program.
Putting in work earlier in the year with Mathew Buck before he was appointed as AFLW Senior Coach, Cordner felt that much more familiar once he was given the top job.
“It was really good to do some work with ‘Bucky’ before we knew he was going to be our coach,” she said.
“It’s been awesome to work with him and I’m super excited for him to be the coach and keep learning off him, because I’ve already learnt from him in the skill sessions.
“It’s great to now have 'Bucky' on board as a coach: the vibe is awesome, I can just tell that the group wants to get to work.
“We’re going through a bit of a change at the moment, a new era for the Carlton AFLW team and I’m really excited to be a part of that.”
