AFLW West Coast Womens 2025

[AsterixTheGaul]

Saw a bunch of the team along with Daisy at North Cottesloe this morning. Probably around 15. Looked like a team meeting with coffees but they had obviously already done some sort of work out.

A few observations
1. Daisy holds their respect - quite evident with eyes fully at DPevery time she spoke
2. Charlie Thomas oozes leadership.
3. The girls look like being at the club is fun.
4. They all looked in great shape
5. Jessica has been working out. Her back muscles look like she has been working out

I admit that my mate and I were sitting in the old Blue Duck polishing off some bacon and eggs but they were deserved as we had done the North Cottesloe to Cottesloe return swim.

 

[squashface]

Sophie McDonald has retired

 

[Biggie]

Sophie McDonald has retired

 

[Keys]

And associated article

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

That’s a shame but probably not unexpected.

Leaves Swanson, Gibson and Smith as the only inaugural players still on our list.

 

[Monocle]

Not a surprise with Sophie Mac, given her mental health and concussion issues.

Shame for her as before he injuries she was one of the emerging quality KPD in the competition.

Very popular around the Club.

That opens up a spot for us, we should swoop in and get one of these gals, my preference in order:

1. Eloise Mackereth - 173 cm - Glenelg - Medium Forward
2. Ella Stoddart - 174 cm - Gippsland Power - KPD
3. Juliet Kelly - 173 cm - Claremont - Midfielder

Would be thrilled if we rolled the dice with Eloise Mackereth, she is inconsistent and needs to work harder on her running but she has undeniable talent.

Ella Stoddard is a tad slow and needs to improve her fitness, but she has a thumping and accurate left foot on her, thats a weapon.

Juliet Kelly is quite good at most aspects of the game without being elite at any, she might be seen as a bit bland.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Not a surprise with Sophie Mac, given her mental health and concussion issues.

Shame for her as before he injuries she was one of the emerging quality KPD in the competition.

Very popular around the Club.

That opens up a spot for us, we should swoop in and get one of these gals, my preference in order:

1. Eloise Mackereth - 173 cm - Glenelg - Medium Forward
2. Ella Stoddart - 174 cm - Gippsland Power - KPD
3. Juliet Kelly - 173 cm - Claremont - Midfielder

Would be thrilled if we rolled the dice with Eloise Mackereth, she is inconsistent and needs to work harder on her running but she has undeniable talent.

Ella Stoddard is a tad slow and needs to improve her fitness, but she has a thumping and accurate left foot on her, thats a weapon.

Juliet Kelly is quite good at most aspects of the game without being elite at any, she might be seen as a bit bland.

Echo your sentiments, not really a surprise, she's been a non existent entity at the club for going on two years now with her concussion and mental health issues, full credit to her for pulling the pin and not just sticking around for an AFLW payday.

Whoever they get I just hope they actually get a DEFENDER this time and not another mid/tall forward, like they did when they signed Lindgren as her replacement last year.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

Not a surprise with Sophie Mac, given her mental health and concussion issues.

Shame for her as before he injuries she was one of the emerging quality KPD in the competition.

Very popular around the Club.

That opens up a spot for us, we should swoop in and get one of these gals, my preference in order:

1. Eloise Mackereth - 173 cm - Glenelg - Medium Forward
2. Ella Stoddart - 174 cm - Gippsland Power - KPD
3. Juliet Kelly - 173 cm - Claremont - Midfielder

Would be thrilled if we rolled the dice with Eloise Mackereth, she is inconsistent and needs to work harder on her running but she has undeniable talent.

Ella Stoddard is a tad slow and needs to improve her fitness, but she has a thumping and accurate left foot on her, thats a weapon.

Juliet Kelly is quite good at most aspects of the game without being elite at any, she might be seen as a bit bland.

Replacement signings are no longer a free-for-all, right? There's another pre-season draft somewhere around April or May?

I guess we're guaranteed to have one pick now, possibly two more depending on whether they decide to put a line through Rowley and/or Western with the ACL recoveries.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Replacement signings are no longer a free-for-all, right? There's another pre-season draft somewhere around April or May?

I guess we're guaranteed to have one pick now, possibly two more depending on whether they decide to put a line through Rowley and/or Western with the ACL recoveries.

Plus who knows what’s happening with Drennan.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Replacement signings are no longer a free-for-all, right? There's another pre-season draft somewhere around April or May?

I guess we're guaranteed to have one pick now, possibly two more depending on whether they decide to put a line through Rowley and/or Western with the ACL recoveries.

The below article from December says pre-season draft slated for April or May. Last year we were playing with less players on the list cos we lost Sophie Mac, Hosking and Schilling after 5 minutes in round 1 and only brought in Lindgren. I still have no idea why they didn't use a replacement player for Hosking unless there was some legalities involved or whatever.

AFLW to introduce pre-season draft ahead of 2026

A new avenue to AFLW lists will open in 2026, with the AFLW to introduce a pre-season draft

www.afl.com.au

 

[Kegs15]

The below article from December says pre-season draft slated for April or May. Last year we were playing with less players on the list cos we lost Sophie Mac, Hosking and Schilling after 5 minutes in round 1 and only brought in Lindgren. I still have no idea why they didn't use a replacement player for Hosking unless there was some legalities involved or whatever.

AFLW to introduce pre-season draft ahead of 2026

A new avenue to AFLW lists will open in 2026, with the AFLW to introduce a pre-season draft

www.afl.com.au

We had Lisa Steane come in and play a game last year as a top up, and Paige Sheppard was on our list (not that we would have heard much about it).

Both played WAFLW - get the feeling we listed them but maybe felt that since both were established midfielders with their existing clubs we'd just let it sit as break glass in case of emergency? Vs Lingdren who we may well have expected to play a fair bit when we picked her up - Cleaver, Roux, LWakfer and Riggs all exceeded expectations as KPPs.

It's a weird league atm, with seasons not overlapping properly with the state leagues and no consistent option to be able to play 2s if not selected. Not relevant to what you were saying but I feel like this vibe really hurt players like Kavanagh - coming from Victoria, highish draft pick but not dominant, coming off serious injury, not an athletic freak, would very much have benefited from an extended run of games getting confidence as an inside mid but no real option to do so outside the top level.

Given the waves of incoming talent each year but the lack of talent depth still, there's also the feeling, more definitively than in the men's, where even a later ND pick is going to be a better option long term (Dalgleish) than the current available options, harder to sell that this'll be a club for you for more than a year.

Not a surprise with Sophie Mac, given her mental health and concussion issues.

Shame for her as before he injuries she was one of the emerging quality KPD in the competition.

Very popular around the Club.

That opens up a spot for us, we should swoop in and get one of these gals, my preference in order:

1. Eloise Mackereth - 173 cm - Glenelg - Medium Forward
2. Ella Stoddart - 174 cm - Gippsland Power - KPD
3. Juliet Kelly - 173 cm - Claremont - Midfielder

Would be thrilled if we rolled the dice with Eloise Mackereth, she is inconsistent and needs to work harder on her running but she has undeniable talent.

Ella Stoddard is a tad slow and needs to improve her fitness, but she has a thumping and accurate left foot on her, thats a weapon.

Juliet Kelly is quite good at most aspects of the game without being elite at any, she might be seen as a bit bland.

So yeah on this would love to take the shot on a Mackereth type. Sell her across the country with the Daisy factor. But with list management the way it is would need to be able to be ruthless and cut her if she didn't exceed expectations after the first year. Brutal league at the moment.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

So yeah on this would love to take the shot on a Mackereth type. Sell her across the country with the Daisy factor. But with list management the way it is would need to be able to be ruthless and cut her if she didn't exceed expectations after the first year. Brutal league at the moment.

All they'd have to do is let her know she's here for a year and if she impresses then they'll sign her. Sanne Bakker was in the exact same position. They signed her as a replacement player out of Victoria for the season and impressed so much that she got a two year deal at the end of the year.

We had a lot of one and done replacement players in Daisy's first year but it was all WAFLW girls besides Sanne so it's not like they had to move cross country for the chance. If she's willing to make the trip over to have a crack then go for it.

And the Steane/Sheppard thing was weird cos they were just top up players who trained with us all year and weren't officially listed/signed Eagles players. I'm pretty sure they needed the league to sign off on Steane playing for us in the Giants game.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Octavia Di Donato dislikes this.

 

[squashface]

Octavia Di Donato dislikes this.

Should’ve signed her imo

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Saw Daisy and her crew at North Cottesloe again yesterday. I sense there must be a training run nearby and the team come down to the beach for a dip and then have a coffee in the open area upstairs and talk football.

Now that lifestyle is not a hard one to sell.

Forget the Victorian surf coast, the water down that way is freezing.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Octavia Di Donato dislikes this.

Man, I f*cking forgot about her, she was actually pretty decent in the games she played. Makes Bakker getting a two year deal even more impressive.

If we kept her on we wouldn't have had the list spot to draft Dalgleish...so it was a good choice in the end.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Some late night news, looks like Kavanagh has signed to play with her local club, Strathmore and Box Hill Hawks VFLW this year.

Kavanagh returns to EDFL

Former West Coast Eagle Kayley Kavanagh will return to where it all began, becoming the latest former AFLW player to sign with an Essendon District Football League women's club. Strathmore announced that Kavanagh had signed with it as her local club for this season. "Welcome home, Kayley...

northern.starweekly.com.au

“We are thrilled to welcome Kayley back as she signs with Box Hill VFLW [Victorian Football League women] and returns to Strathmore as her home club.”

 

[HoneyBadger35]

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Damn, why’d we trade him to Freo?

I guess we did get Phil Matera out of it.

 

[Keys]

Her dad is a premiership player at one of those clubs

She should go to that one

Biggie you need to have a word in her ear

 

[WCE777]

Her dad is a premiership player at one of those clubs

She should go to that one

Biggie you need to have a word in her ear

Played 13 games for FRE.
73 for WC between 91-95 and played in 1994 GF.
Not sure on the rules with F/D but we should be up to our eyeballs as far as access to Miley Hynes?
Good news.

 

[Monocle]

Her dad is a premiership player at one of those clubs

She should go to that one

Biggie you need to have a word in her ear

North Beach girl and already 178cm at 16.

Living in the Northern Suburbs and her Dad being an Eagles Premiership player, hopefully she hasn't been contaminated by the Unwashed.

Biggie she is a West Perth Rogers Cup Squad player, any inside intel on what sort of player she is position etc.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Game Time for WA Football Summer Program - WA Football

The WA Football boys and girls Summer Programs have entered match play stage.

wafootball.com.au

“Miley Hynes also shone particularly brightly using her speed and skills through the midfield throughout the 80 minutes.”

A speedy, skillful mid at 178cms...excuse me?! For comparison Ella's 176cm.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Played 13 games for FRE.
73 for WC between 91-95 and played in 1994 GF.
Not sure on the rules with F/D but we should be up to our eyeballs as far as access to Miley Hynes?
Good news.

F/D is available for any player whose father played one senior game (vs 100 games for father/son).

A couple of years ago Geelong got access to a player (Bryde O’Rourke) because someone discovered her dad played exactly one game for the Cats in the 60s. (Also, he must have had her pretty late in life)

 

[Keys]

One game seems a ridiculously low bar

Crazy to think that if Aaron Black, for example, has a daughter she’d be eligible to be recruited by West Coast despite him never actually being on our list

But he played a senior game for the club