SWFLW 2023: All in a day’s work for versatile athlete Giaan Evans

When many of us are sleeping during the week, versatile athlete Giaan Evans is up early working at a Boyanup-based dairy. Fast forward to when most people are arriving home from work, Evans is either at football training with Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault, or netball training with her Souwest Jets and Eaton teammates. It was an incredible year for the 20-year-old, who finished fourth in the Nola Marino Medal count, awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the SWFL women’s competition, polling 24 votes in her first season. Despite several trips to Perth throughout the season due to her Jets commitments, Evans played 16 games with the Lions, and helped them play finals football for the first time in four years. “Because I was involved with the Jets this year as well, it was my main focus,” she said. “Jets training was on Monday and Wednesday nights in Perth. Most of the time, HBL and Eaton training would clash, so I would just go to one training session each per week.” Predictably, Evans is very organised and makes sure she fires on all cylinders across the board. “I’ve been really cautious on what I was eating and putting into my body,” she said. “Because of all the driving each week, I made sure I was recovering correctly as well. “I’d always make sure I’d shower up in Perth after games or training before driving back home, along with eating correctly. “But it definitely was a lot of hours in the car. Stretching was also really important as well, along with stopping at service stations and going for a quick walk.” Unlike most of us, Evans’ role is not your standard 9-5 grind, given dairy cows always need to be taken care of. “I have to get there at 4.45am in the morning,” she said. “Normally I’d finish around 9.30am. When I don’t have sport on in the afternoons, I’ll go back at around 2.30pm till about 6.30pm. I normally work six or seven days a week, but I do seven to nine shifts.”