Hopes that West Coast would begin to climb the AFLW ladder in their fifth season were dashed when they lost their first four games. A breakthrough win over Port was followed by a series of heavy losses that heaped the pressure on coach Michael Prior, who eventually stepped down with a fortnight to play despite leading the side to a memorable upset win over finals-bound Essendon in his last game. The team seemed to play with renewed vigour under caretaker Rohan McHugh, but did not record another win and finished ahead of only the Western Bulldogs.
The good news was that some young stars began to shine through, with defender Charlie Thomas winning her first Club Champion title, ably supported in the backline by veterans Belinda Smith and Sophie McDonald. The much-hyped Ella Roberts spent more time in the midfield and helped carry the load with skipper Emma Swanson, while ruck Lauren Wakfer rebounded from the knee injury that ruled her out of action in her first season to carry the ruck load. Veteran Kellie Gibson, returning from a knee injury of her own, was redeployed as a forward and responded with a club-record 12 goal season.
Honour board[]
Coach: Michael Prior (to round 8), Rohan McHugh (caretaker)
Captain: Emma Swanson
Leadership group: Bella Lewis (vc), Dana Hooker, Aisling McCarthy, Jess Sedunary
Club Champion: Charlie Thomas
Best First Year Player: not awarded
Best Club Person: Krstel Petrevski
Leading Goalscorer: Kellie Gibson (12)
All-Australians: Charlie Thomas
Rising Star nominees: Ella Roberts (round 1), Lauren Wakfer (round 5)
Milestones:
Squad[]
| Senior list | Head coach | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Kate Bartlett | 17 | Dana Hooker | 10 | Jess Sedunary | Michael Prior | |
| 18 | Jaide Britton | 12 | Emma Humphries | 9 | Isabella Simmons | Assistants | |
| 15 | Abbygail Bushby | 23 | Sarah Lakay | 14 | Belinda Smith | Hamish Brayshaw (mid) | |
| 28 | Shanae Davison | 6 | Bella Lewis | 22 | Ella Smith | Rohan McHugh | |
| 29 | Emily Elkington | 11 | Aisling McCarthy | 13 | Emma Swanson | Pia Faletti | |
| 19 | Amy Franklin* | 35 | Sophie McDonald | 3 | Charlie Thomas | Martene Pearman | |
| 2 | Kellie Gibson | 4 | Ella Roberts | 1 | Lauren Wakfer | Development | |
| 31 | Evie Gooch | 5 | Courtney Rowley | 16 | Zoe Wakfer | Andrew Di Loreto (head) | |
| 8 | Sasha Goranova | 30 | Beth Schilling | 26 | Mackenzie Webb* | Amanda Robertson | |
| 25 | Eleanor Hartill | 7 | Aimee Schmidt | 21 | Mikayla Western | Dean Irving (ruck) | |
| Inactive list | |||||||
| 32 | Krstel Petrevski |
(* = new addition to playing squad)
Fixture[]
| Rd | Date | Opponent | Venue | Res | Score | Posn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-season | |||||||
| 1 | Sun 20 Aug | Essendon | Lathlain Park | W | 43-34 | ||
| Home & away | |||||||
| 1 | Sun 3 Sept | Fremantle | Fremantle Oval | L | 19-27 | 13th | |
| 2 | Sat 9 Sept | Gold Coast | Carrara Stadium | L | 26-99 | 18th | |
| 3 | Sun 17 Sept | Carlton | Lathlain Park | L | 24-77 | 18th | |
| 4 | Sun 24 Sept | Sydney | Henson Park | L | 21-34 | 18th | |
| 5 | Fri 29 Sept | Port Adelaide | Lathlain Park | W | 39-33 | 16th | |
| 6 | Sat 7 Oct | GWS Giants | Blacktown | L | 24-44 | 17th | |
| 7 | Sun 15 Oct | Melbourne | Lathlain Park | L | 12-82 | 17th | |
| 8 | Sun 22 Oct | Essendon | Windy Hill | W | 23-19 | 16th | |
| 9 | Sun 29 Oct | Western Bulldogs | Lathlain Park | L | 36-44 | 16th | |
| 10 | Sat 4 Nov | Adelaide | Lathlain Park | L | 45-71 | 17th |
Final ladder[]
Jumpers[]
(footyjumpers.com)
Club Champion leaderboard[]
| Player | Votes | Games | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Thomas | 52 | 10 | ||
| 2nd | Roberts | 49 | 10 | ||
| 3rd | B.Smith | 48 | 10 | ||
| 4th | Swanson | 44 | 10 | ||
| 5th | McDonald | 43 | 10 | ||
| 6th | Gibson | 31 | 10 | ||
| 7th | Hooker | 30 | 10 | ||
| 8th | Lewis | 28 | 10 | ||
| 9th | McCarthy | 27 | 10 | ||
| 10th | Davison | 23 | 9 |
Stats leaders[]
| Goals | Disposals | Disp/game | Marks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Gibson | 12 . | Swanson | 221 . | Swanson | 22.1 . | Swanson | 43 |
| 2nd | McCarthy | 4 | Roberts | 209 | Roberts | 20.9 | Thomas | 42 |
| 3rd | Bartlett | 3 | Thomas | 174 | Thomas | 17.4 | B.Smith | 40 |
| 4th | Lewis | 3 | Lewis | 171 | Lewis | 17.1 | Roberts | 35 |
| 5th | Franklin | 2 | McCarthy | 158 | McCarthy | 15.8 | Lewis | 29 |
| 6th | Hooker | 2 | B.Smith | 155 | B.Smith | 15.5 | Davison | 27 |
| 7th | Roberts | 2 | Hooker | 130 | Hooker | 13.0 | Hookr | 23 |
| 8th | Rowley | 2 | Rowley | 99 | Bushby | 10.5 | Rowley | 19 |
| 9th | Six players | 1 | Davison | 89 | Britton | 10.4 | Britton | 18 |
| 10th | Gibson | 80 | Rowley | 9.9 | Gibson | 10 | ||
| Kicks | Handballs | Clearances | Tackles | |||||
| 1st | Thomas | 138 . | Roberts | 96 . | Lewis | 32 | Hooker | 73 |
| 2nd | Swanson | 134 | Swanson | 87 | Swanson | 32 | Swanson | 59 |
| 3rd | Roberts | 113 | Lewis | 82 | McCarthy | 31 | Lewis | 58 |
| 4th | McCarthy | 112 | B.Smith | 70 | Roberts | 30 | McCarthy | 53 |
| 5th | Lewis | 89 | McCarthy | 46 | L.Wakfer | 23 | L.Wakfer | 40 |
| 6th | Hooker | 85 | Hooker | 45 | Rowley | 17 | Roberts | 39 |
| 7th | B.Smith | 85 | Thomas | 36 | Hooker | 15 | Rowley | 35 |
| 8th | Rowley | 65 | Rowley | 34 | Bushby | 9 | Western | 29 |
| 9th | Gooch | 58 | L.Wakfer | 34 | Davison | 8 | Thomas | 28 |
| 10th | Davison | 58 | McDonald | 27 | Hartill | 7 | Gibson | 26 |
| B.Smith | 26 |
Tribunal record[]
References[]
| Season summaries |
|---|
|
1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |