FREMANTLE skipper Hayley Miller completed just one full pre-season training session before season seven, struggling to throw off a calf injury.

The Dockers slumped to one of their worst performances in AFLW history against Geelong in round two, scoring a record-low one point as they battled injuries, the Cats' pressure and the rain.

"The week before pre-season started, I had a little bit of a niggle, and unfortunately it went through the whole entire pre-season," Miller told The W Show.

"I'd get back a couple of weeks, I'd start to run again and it'd pop back up and I'd have to have more time off. There was a lot of sit-down boxing, a lot of cross-training to get through that. And it was really difficult for me, I think I had one full training session before round one.

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"It was not the preparation I wanted, and I had to put in a lot of effort into the mental side of things and going 'ok, I need to trust what I've done up to this point', because I haven't been able to practice those things in the pre-season and really build on that.

"For me, it's been a bit of a slower start than what I would have liked, coming off last season of course, I had a pretty good season. I know I want to increase that and go forward from there, but it's just about getting my hands back on the football and building confidence in myself.

"I'm fully fit now, and played a little bit more forward in the first round to build into that match fitness and that kind of thing, but for now it's get into it, and get my hands on the footy as much as I can."

Compounding the Dockers' woes, AFLW best and fairest Kiara Bowers spent significant time away from the club as COVID-19 hit her family, eventually developing the infection herself.

"I wasn't out there at all in the pre-season, I didn't get a run in any of the pre-season games, and neither did Kiara," Miller said.

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"It was her partner who originally got covid, and then her son got covid, so she was away from the group for those periods of time, and then she was the last one to get it. She was away for a good three or four weeks, right in that period where you're getting into it and putting all the pieces together.

"With our midfield, we just probably haven't had that synergy that we've had previously in terms of going into pre-season, you know exactly what everyone's doing. We've got a new midfield coach (Matt Templeton), so there's a lot of change around there.

"I think we just have to go back to the basics, and you're going in, winning the football, supporting each other and getting that ball forward."