IN THE immediate aftermath of the traumatic neck injury suffered by GWS' Irish recruit Bríd Stack, countrywoman and teammate Cora Staunton felt "guilty".

The pair had been fierce rivals on the Gaelic football pitch – Staunton in attack for County Mayo and Stack in defence for County Cork – but the former had been key in encouraging the decorated defender to try her hand at Australian Football.

Stack had come out to a Sydney in lockdown, travelling round the country with her husband Carthach and toddler son Carthach Óg in tow as the Giants took to the road, before suffering a fractured vertebra in her neck in the 2021 practice match against Adelaide.

"I suppose even for me, when I reflected at the end of last season, you just don't realise the affect it has on you at the time. You just go from day to day, game to game, but for Bríd and her family, the first 24 hours and couple of weeks had a massive effect on them," Staunton told womens.afl.

"From my point of view, there was huge guilt attached to it. I was probably one of the main instigators of Bríd coming out (to Australia). I'd sold her the dream and it turned from a dream to a nightmare. Especially early days when she got injured and then next couple of hours, going to the hospital in Adelaide and things weren't looking good at all.

"The next two weeks were just supporting Carthach and making sure 'Oggy' was well looked after and making sure Bríd could recover as best she could. She attacked that straight away, when she got out of hospital, that's the type of character she is. Medically, I don’t think they were ever going to let her back, but I know myself that you need some hope that you might get back.

"The two of us, along with her husband and Al (McConnell, GWS coach), did extra sessions in April, May and June before we went home, so you could really see she was getting her confidence back. The physical work is easy, it's trying to get yourself mentally right that's the challenge."

Stack, 35, made her long-awaited debut last weekend against Gold Coast, lining up in defence against the dangerous Kalinda Howarth.

"It was obviously great to see her first game – it's great to see any AFLW footballer play their first game – but from her point of view, with the serious injury she had. It was lovely to present her jumper, I knew she was nervous," Staunton said.

"For her to play and perform quite well on top of that, it was quite emotional, but at the same time it was brilliant for her to get over it, she's only going to grow and get better now that milestone is done."

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At 40, Staunton is the oldest AFLW player in the competition's history, but it doesn't faze her in the slightest.

"My age, the fact I'm Irish, and the weather when it's raining, those are the three I hear quite a bit (from teammates). To be honest, it flies over my head most of the time, it's more the girls around the club who like to rip into me and slag me," Staunton said.

"I keep off social media mostly, and age is just a number. I really don't take any notice, once I'm playing and training and going hard and still trying to out-sprint the younger ones, then I feel I'm in a good place. Thankfully my body is holding up quite well and I rarely miss training, so I can still feel I can compete at the top level."

So what turned a one-season adventure into a five-year (and counting) AFLW career?

"I love playing the game, it's a relatively new sport for me, and the challenge of wanting to get better all the time. I came from a sport where I was at the top of my game for a number of years, and then you come here and you're at the bottom of the ladder and you just want to improve," she said.

"It's also the love for this club. I can't put into words what this club means, it's a very special place. From the first day I walked in, I felt that family and sense of belonging, whether that's running into one of the men's players or staff, you just feel the club's special.

"We're led by a very special man as well, he's a coach you want to play well for and want to achieve something for him, because of all the effort and time he puts into the club."

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