SEASON 2024 is not going exactly the way new Fremantle skipper Ange Stannett had planned.

Newly appointed to the Fremantle captaincy, Stannett will unfortunately have to sit out the 2024 AFL Women’s season after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) earlier this year. Stannett said the injury recovery was “getting there”.

“I’m 12 weeks post op now, so able to do a little bit more each week,” she said. “I’m hoping to be returning to run in just over a month. So, slow and steady, but just approaching it like the longest ever pre season.”

Although she will not be able to lead her side on the field, she will still have a role on gameday.

“My gameday role will be on the bench, so I’ll be helping convey messages down from coaches and reinforcing our gameplan, our tactics with the girls, and trying to bring us back to what our trademark is as well,” Stannett said. “So, very much one on one with the girls on the bench, which is nice to still be connected.

“Then, just the same old during the week to be honest, a lot of the work is done during the week. “To make sure that everyone’s really prepared and feeling confident with their own roles too. “But then of course just going about my business and getting my rehab done at the same time.”

Despite everything, Stannett has still really enjoyed her time as captain thus far.

“It’s been really good,” Stannett said. “It’s an exciting time of year for everyone. I feel like everyone’s just settling into what the season’s going to look like. And same for the leadership group. A couple of new faces in there in Emma O’Driscoll and Ash Brazill so it’s been great working closely with them as well. But it’s been really good, thank you.”

Reflecting on 2023, Stannett said it was “a season of a lot of growth”.

“I would say a lot of learning,” she said. “It was our first year under Lisa Webb, new coach, new game plan. “In that sense we were thrown a few challenges just because of the change itself. But in saying that, I would say it’s set us up really well for the season ahead this year.

“We’re already seeing great growth again in game plan implementation and understanding from players too, which then just allows us to have greater leadership on field and decision making. “The growth in the group’s been awesome. “I think the main piece for us is last year really helped us build our connection, both to the game plan but also to each other and this year it’s looking really exciting.”

The practise match and match simulation Fremantle played did result in two wins for the Dockers, but even then Stannett said there was “a lot to learn”.

“Both of the praccy matches we went into it more focused on what it is that we were trying to do,” she said. “Obviously you can’t go too much into opposition analysis when it’s the first couple of games and you don’t know what other sides are really going to look like.

“But we came away from them with a lot of positives in the sense of, again, our on field connection, our gameplan implementation, the way that we’re able to move the ball in different stages of the game, depending on what it is we need, whether it’s we need to be more brave and take on the corridor, we need to slow the tempo down.

“I think the thing that impressed me most about the group was just everyone’s willingness to hunt and get their hands dirty and compete for us as well.”

When it all comes down to it though, heading into this year Stannett said the ultimate goal for the season for the Dockers is a pretty simple one.

“We want to be building it every single week as well,” she said. “We want to be competitive, we want to be able to play our brand of footy and we want that to be really distinct for Fremantle.”