ONE WEEK before Meghan McDonald was set to lead Geelong into the 2023 NAB AFLW Finals Series, her dad, Gordon, suddenly passed away.

Seven days later, McDonald skippered her side against Essendon, to the Cats' first AFLW finals win.

And again, in a monumental semi-final upset victory over reigning premier, Melbourne.

And again, in a nail-biting, four-point preliminary final loss to eventual premier, Brisbane. 

"It was far and away the hardest thing I've ever been through. I was fortunate to have got to 32 years old and not have experienced acute grief like losing a parent," McDonald told AFL.com.au.

"I'm not through the grieving process yet. It was incredibly challenging, but at the same time, one of the most emotionally rich times in my life, because we were achieving so much here. 

"You're in a footy club environment and you know people are there for you, it goes without saying. But the level of support was absolutely overwhelming, from my teammates, from the community, from people I work with during the day (in the marketing team) here. 

"I'll never forget what certain people said to me, how they turned up for me or even how we played during that time. How everyone drove to the other side of Melbourne to go to the funeral before our game, it blew me away. 

"It was the worst time and the best time."

Gordon McDonald loved football. He was North Melbourne's physio through the halcyon days of the club in the 1980s and '90s, and is a life member of the Kangaroos.

"[Playing AFLW] changed my relationship with him, I used to go to the footy so much as a kid. He just frothed the Cats and how we were going," McDonald said.

"I've had a great year (in 2024), but I go into the season knowing it will be different. Like so many of my teammates, the dads are so invested, they're so into the footy, they're watching vision, they're watching training.

"For me, like a lot of my friends, they're the people you go to when you've had a bad run and you need someone to tell you how good you are, or 'If only they had moved you here, the Cats would have won'. 

"The pre- and the post-game, I think I'll feel an emptiness there, but a lot of pride at the same time."

McDonald never doubted she'd pull on the hoops at the end of the worst week imaginable. 

"I felt quite sure pretty immediately that I was going to play. People say, 'Oh, that's what your dad would have wanted', and that's true too, but we were in a really exciting time, going well, and the five days of support I had leading into it, I felt well prepared," she said.

"I was pretty nervous about how I'd feel physically during that Essendon game. I was cramping in the fourth quarter, and I remember coming to the bench and just totally breaking down emotionally. We'd already had the game won by that point, which is an emotional release anyway. But even the way Erin, our physio, came and sat next to me – there were just so many people (who helped). 

"I was then up for the Melbourne game, and depleted for Brisbane. You're just riding the wave."

Despite being 33, McDonald only has nine years of football under her belt, having started her journey with VFLW club Darebin.

She was a star junior tennis player – "good enough to travel Australia, I didn't travel the world" – who had an unfortunate habit of going for an ace at any opportunity, regardless of the mounting tally of double faults.

It means she isn't quite as "banged up" as other male and female players of her age.

"I had good (tennis) technique, I just didn't realise that to win, you had to hit the ball on the court more often than not. I was never going to be a brick wall on clay," she said with a laugh.

"I feel as good as I've felt for a couple of years. I feel really good to go. We've had great development under our S&C over the last couple of years, running gait, injury prevention point of view, and have probably levelled up athletically. 

"I feel like I've responded really well to that. I pride myself on training completion and doing everything I can. I'm hoping it'll be a case of 'start late, finish late', when it comes to my career."

And after a breakthrough preliminary finals appearance, where to for Geelong? With another pre-season under the belt – and aside from the ruck department, a stable list – will the natural development of chemistry help close the gap on the top four sides?

"It's always hard to fight the reality of that stuff takes time," McDonald said.

"You can do so many things to accelerate it, you can connect off-field and all the training in the world, but the longer you play together, the more you know which way a teammate is going to turn, what their strengths are, and what they'll want from you in any given moment. 

"I think that's something to continue to build not just with the person next to you, but across lines, hopefully we'll see that more and more – what does the defence need from the midfield and the forwards need from all of us to kick the ball through the big sticks more?"