Weekends are busy for Tessa Lavey.
Last Friday, she travelled from her home in Melbourne to Bendigo for WNBL (Women's Nationals Basketball League) training with Bendigo Spirit. The following day involved a trip to Ballarat, where Bendigo faced Perth on Saturday night. Lavey scored 16 points.
That night, she drove back to Melbourne in preparation for the Tigers' flight to the Gold Coast on Sunday morning, where she booted her third AFLW goal and was a valuable cog in the midfield, before arriving home in the early hours of Monday morning.
All after being released from COVID-19 isolation that very same Friday.
It's a juggling act, but Lavey wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's definitely worth it. I feel like I'm in a privileged situation right now being able to play sport at all, considering COVID," she said.
"So, I feel really lucky that I can play football and basketball in the same season.
"Juggling the two sports has been really interesting, it's been a lot of early communications between the two clubs and myself, just making sure that everyone is happy and well-looked after."
Watching Lavey on the football field, you wouldn't know the dual Olympian has been playing AFLW for just two seasons.
Adding to her six solid outings on the wing in her debut season, Lavey came out firing in 2022. Her Round 1 performance, which included 19 disposals and two marks, earned her eight votes from the coaches, which she then backed up with two goals the next week, including the fastest opening goal kicked in an AFLW match (20 seconds).
Describing her first year in the league as "flat-out", the 28-year-old now feels much more at home on the football field.
"I'm feeling a lot more comfortable out there, it's definitely slowed down a bit now and I understand the game a lot more," she said.
"I feel like I've grown a lot, which is a credit to the Club and the players and coaching staff. I can't thank them enough, they just instil confidence within the playing group and I think I've just tried to bring that this season.
"I learned a lot last year, so now I'm understanding where I can impact games... being able to impact with the ball when it comes to me and being a threat going forward.
"Being in a scoring position is super important because it puts pressure on their wingers and means I can get it wide and open up the game a little."
With her sports schedule changing week to week, Lavey said recovery and looking after her body is key to making life as a cross-coder work.
"The clubs are really good at understanding that," she said.
Another big weekend awaits for Lavey. Off to Adelaide this Friday to play in the WNBL on Saturday night, she'll then fly back to Melbourne early on Sunday morning where she'll trade the basketball shoes for the football boots and run out for the Tigers against the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.
"The AFLW season this year has been really interesting," she said.
"I feel like we've made some real leaps in our game. Gold Coast was disappointing, but I think over the next five rounds we'll show the rest of the league that we've really grown within the last six to eight months."
