PORT ADELAIDE’s AFLW squad got on the road to Victor Harbor at the weekend for its pre-season camp.

It was all about hard work, mixed with team building and a bit of fun as the side welcomed its eight new players and a host of new coaching and support staff.

Defender Amelie Borg takes us through how the trip played out in her camp diary.

Friday, 21 June

We met at the club and I drove down with Ash (Saint), Sachi (Syme), Abbey (Dowrick), and then Alissa (Brook) was meant to be in our car because she's from down here at Victor Harbor, she met us at our accommodation. Alissa is in my room along with Jas Stewart, Sachi, and then myself.

I’m pretty sure the leadership group picked who was in each car. They did a really good job. I think it was meant to be mixed up so you weren’t with those players closest to you. Because Alissa is new, and Jas Stewart is someone I’m still getting to know, being in the room with her makes things a lot easier when it comes to connection. Alissa is new to Port Adelaide, and she’s in the backline with me, so we’re spending a lot of time together on the field and it’s great to do the same off the field as well.

Ash was driving, I was in the front seat and then Sachi and Abbey were in the backseat. We had some fun tunes for the first maybe half an hour – I was in charge so we had some Justin Bieber throwbacks and some early 2000s music mainly. I’m 19 so I wasn’t actually born when some of it came out. Then we we're kind of just talking, having some deep chats, getting a little insight into each other because before we left for the camp, we had like a 20-25 minute session about some ups and downs in our lives and things we're going through, so we kind of elaborated on that in our car ride down, which is really nice.

We didn't stop anywhere on the way, we just drove straight to the caravan park and then once we got to the caravan park, we had about half an hour before we had to drive to a training session at the Victor Harbor footy club.

It was a good training. The oval was in great condition. They had the lights on and we had a few supporters out there watching us train, which was exciting. It was nice to have a bit of different scenery.

It was a pretty solid session. It was just a skills training session rather than conditioning at the end so it was good to get that out of the way and then at the end, we played a bit of a fun game, which was a nice way to wrap it up.

We washed up and stuck around for some dinner. We had the choice of two pastas, a creamy pasta and a Bolognese. Both were amazing and then there was some salad and cheesy garlic bread.

The young girls who play for Victor Harbor, who have a game this weekend, came and watched us and got some signatures and photos with us afterwards. It was nice to know they look up to us. It's really good as female athletes to have that. When I was growing up, I didn't really know AFLW when it first started but then now to have girls really knowing it and playing footy is really cool.

When we got back to our cabin, we kind of all just showered, did what we needed to do and then we all went to one of the girls’ cabins - I don't know whose it was - but there were probably about 15 of us in there playing cards. Teagan (Germech) was there as well and I haven't really spoken to her a lot so it was good to get to know her a bit by having a bit of a cheeky fun game. Then we just had a cup of tea and Gemma (Houghton) and Teaks (Julia Teakle) made a lemon slice the night before. Gemma can do anything and that was delicious. And then, probably about 9:30ish we went to bed, not knowing what was to come on Saturday.

Saturday, 22 June

We’d been talking amongst the girls about what the coaches had planned today. We were all stressed about it. We didn’t know if it was going to be fun or hard work. I thought it might be an Amazing Race kind of thing, but I was totally in the dark.

It turned out to be a really solid running session, which was just over 10 kms. It was a big sesh but it was nice to do that with the girls and we did some different conditioning. It was lots of running but then we'd do a little tag team race. I was partnered with Alex Ballard and it was just a really fun way to work hard because you'd push yourselves but then knowing you get your rest and then your next person goes. When one group is resting and we're running they're all cheering us on and getting around everyone - not just your own partner. It definitely motivated me to run when I heard Ange Foley calling out “keep going Borgy” I was like “Okay, let's keep running!”

It was a beautiful day. It could not have been any better this morning. When we got up it was freezing, it was a bit overcast and we all though it was going to rain but then got to the Encounter Bay Football Club and the sun was shining. We basically took our jumpers off straight away and got stuck in. It was a great facility too.

For lunch we had a bunch of different wraps to choose from. You could help yourself to as many as you wanted. Grimmy (Shane Grimm) and Rach (Rachael Sporn) even did a coffee run for us. We’re really lucky to have our dietician Stribs (Lauren Stribley) organising all the catering for us to fuel us when we’re training hard.

After that we did a team-building exercise, gathering in a circle to get to know each other on a deeper level. One of our key values as a side is trust and I think what we did, getting to know each other and sharing some of our hardship was one of the best bonding things I’ve ever done with anyone. We're like a second family so it was really, really good to do the bonding session that we did, and to have the staff included in there as well. We are with each other every day so being able to trust each other with that information is so important.

We were then given some free time. Some of the girls used the waterslides at the caravan park and some went to the beach. We had organised a talent show that night and a few of the girls put our names down for a dance that we were going to perform. We just hadn’t rehearsed anything until then so we used our free time to come up with choreography. I think the dance went for about 30 seconds from the two hours we had to prepare. I had Molly (Brooksby), Alissa (Brook), Popey (Katelyn Pope), Boagy (Ella Boag) and Maz (Maria Moloney). None of us are dancers so it was quite funny.

We all went to the Hotel Victor and had dinner. We’d pre-ordered so that made it easier with a big group. Matilda (Scholz) called up earlier and booked a function room at the hotel, which was really handy for the talent show. She was the host and wanted it to be perfect. It was better to be inside than out in the cold on the grass at the caravan park. There was even a slideshow on a big screen. I think there were probably about 10 different groups that performed and some individuals as well. Even the coaching staff got involved and did a dance from the Wiggles, which was really funny.

Some of the girls did juggling, some did acrobatics and backflips – that was Piper (Window). Blex (Alex Ballard) did some juggling while doing timetables. We would yell out like ‘six times three’ and she would answer while juggling. It didn't go completely to plan and she dropped a few of the balls but it was quite funny. I will say that Abbey (Dowrick) was pretty good on the guitar.

We then went back to the caravan park and split into a few different dorms and watched the North Melbourne vs Melbourne game. I ate some chocolate as a bit of a treat then went to bed. We were all pretty tired.

Sunday, 23 June

After some quick breakfast, at 7:30am we met at the gate of the caravan park to walk down to the beach. We did a boxing session. I've never really done boxing. It was so fun and it was really hard as well. I think my shoulders will be sore for a few days. I had Gemma (Houghton) next to me and she's just a natural boxer so that threw me off a little bit. But it was really fun to go down to the beach, have a hard boxing session and then go for a little swim.

After that, we went back to the cabins, packed up and got back on the road home. We all went in the same cars we had when we drove down there. I think after all that we just wanted to get home, but on the way, we stopped at one of our favourite places, Rival Brothers, for some lunch.

Getting to know each other was everyone's goal out of the camp and I think we achieved that on a higher level than anyone would have expected. It was the most fun I’ve had on a camp, including school camps. And it was hard work as well, which made it even better. I think camp was absolutely brilliant and I would go back there with this group of girls in a heartbeat.