The changing face of the Crows family was on show when marquee women’s player Chelsea Randall shared a press conference with Jake Lever on the first day of pre-season.

While the men’s squad has been enjoying the break after the 2016 season, Randall and her new teammates have been counting down the days until the official start of training, ahead of the inaugural AFL Women’s Competition.

There’s been no shortage of time for the excitement to build for the new recruits.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Randall, who was signed by the Crows (along with Kellie Gibson) as a marquee player four months ago.

“We keep referring to it as a ‘dream’, it really is.”

The squad has been fitting in early training sessions and time in the gym alongside the men, but they’ve finally reached the historic first training session on their AFL calendar.

“Tonight is the first session that we come onto the track together, and we’re really thrilled and excited to be here,” Randall said.

It’s a new type of training regime, given nine of the Crows women’s team are based in the Northern Territory.

They will train separately using the same program, and only come together for two training camps and a trial game before the competition launches in early February.

“That’s something that the other AFL Women’s teams don’t have, so we’re in a unique position, but that’s the challenging and exciting part,” Randall said.

“We refer to it as a bit of an arranged marriage.”

It’s certainly a modern footy relationship.

“We’ve been FaceTiming, and we had our AFL Induction (on November 11-12) where we met everyone officially which was really nice,” Randall said.

It might feel like they have a lot to cram in in their first pre-season together, but the West Australian recruit is confident in the quality of the squad.

“We’ve got an excellent group of people,” she said.

“An incredible coaching group as well as our playing group, so I have no doubt that we’ll be a competitive side next year.”

It’s the beginning of a new era at the Crows, but it’s nice to know some things feel the same for both sides.

“Everyone loves kicking a new football around!” Randall said.

Lever, who trained with the one to four-year group on Monday morning, was also eager to embrace the new-look, larger club.

“It’s fantastic for us to be able to start on the same day,” Lever said.

“They will be eager to train tonight and impress. It’s an exciting day for the football club.”