Laura Gardner is excited to embark on her AFLW journey alongside her Geelong Falcons teammate Darcy Moloney.

Both were standout performers within the Falcons’ engine room during the NAB League and Gardiner is looking forward to developing her game alongside her close friend at the next level.

“We are both very determined and have similar strengths, but then we are obviously very different in a way so it’s good to have each other,” Gardiner said.

“We both help each other improve and having someone come into this competition with you makes it a lot less stressful probably that it would be.

“It is just good having that balance between us, I think we go really well together.”

The Cats will enter 2021 with eight Geelong Falcons players on their list, and Gardiner believes it is the perfect program to equip AFLW aspirants with the platform to reach the top level.

“Geelong Falcons was great especially for me,” she said.

“Three years I had there, and I had two different coaches over the time, and they were both so great.

“I learnt basically all of my skills there and it is really good to prepare you if you want to pursue a career in football.”

Gardiner and her teammates will take a short break during Christmas before returning to training in early January to prepare for their Round 1 clash against North Melbourne on Sunday 31 January.

While she is hopeful of making an AFLW debut at some stage this year, Gardiner’s focus is for now is simply on improving her football craft.

“My goal is to improve on my kicking in all areas and my knowledge of the game, my decision making. I feel sometimes I rush a little when I could take more time, so I just want to have more of a gauge on the time I have especially in the step up from NAB League to AFLW.”