Eight personal bests smashed and new recruits in the top five finishers – the Lions AFLW time trial results only prove the competition is red hot amongst the group.

New Irish recruit Orla O’Dwyer set the track ablaze by finishing first and smashing the club record, which was previously owned by Emily Bates.* O’Dwyer beat Rheanne Lugg by a full lap of QEII track and put pacesetter Michael Whiting (also an AFL.com.au journalist) to work.

Lugg finished second, followed by Cathy Svarc, Sophie Conway and Selina Goodman.

Conway was the only finisher in the top five who was on the Lions list in 2019.

“They’ve staked their claim to create competition for the rest of their list,” Women’s Physical Performance Manager Matt Green said of the new recruits’ performances.

Conway’s result was also remarkable, with the small forward having missed the entire 2019 AFLW season due to an ACL injury. The last 12 months have been dedicated to her rehabilitation.

Amongst the eight personal bests was Nat Grider, who finished seventh overall, and beat her time by 53 seconds from the year prior.

Green said the results were a credit to the group’s hard work in the AFLW off season.

“It was really good for them to come back in a really good state and set the tone for us for the pre-season,” he said.

“A lot of these girls are setting high standards nice and early, with every spot up for grabs come Round One.”

Green said he was aware of O’Dwyer’s tank, speed and power before she arrived in Australia.

“In recruiting her we knew of her running power and athleticism,” he said.

“For her to come out there and do that straight off the back of a long season in Ireland was impressive.”

With the players returning in such great shape on day one of pre-season, Green and the coaches have been able to accelerate their program, with pre-season ahead of schedule.

“We’ve been able to get into match simulation a lot quicker that we usually would have,” he said.

“They can tolerate more loads throughout the pre-season.

“We’ve added another level to our preparation.”

*Bates, Hannah Hillman, Maria Moloney and Belle Dawes did not take part.