MINOR premiers Claremont headline a top five-dominated WAFL Women’s Team of the Year squad with 75 per cent of the representatives coming from those around the post-season mark. While West Perth – the one team of those five to miss out – had eight representative to share the overall lead with Claremont, Subiaco and East Fremantle had seven, while Swan Districts managed six.

Of the bottom four sides, Perth actually had the most with four, while South Fremantle and Peel Thunder had three, and wooden spooners East Perth finished with two. The Bulldogs are perhaps a touch unlucky to only have three, but were also affected by the seven-game minimum rule to make the side with star midfielder Bailey Hunt only playing the six matches and forward Poppy Stockwell starting on fire but playing just four games.

Other players who would have made the squad but missed the minimum games played cut-off were Subiaco pair Maggie MacLachlan and Olivia Crane, as well as Claremont’s Sasha Goranova. The most unlucky player to miss out was Perth’s Fina Dethlefsen who deserves a mention, as the 49th pick only marginally missing out to other forwards in the mix.

Among the fresh faces to the league who impressed all season, Paige Sheppard and Lisa Steane were outstanding for Subiaco, and Isabella Shannon stood out for Perth. From the players returning to their original clubs after stints elsewhere, Tahleah Mulder (Fremantle AFLW), Jaime Henry (Western Bulldogs VFLW) and Chloe Wrigley (East Fremantle) were prominent in our Teams of the Week.

Incredibly, just nine of last year’s Rookie Me Central WAFL Women’s Team of the Year were named in the 48-strong squad, though a further 10 were included in last year’s full squad. Next week the 48 players will be cut down to 24 for our final Team of the Year based on Team of the Week nominations, while the remaining 24 will slot into our Second Team of the Year.

2025 ROOKIE ME CENTRAL WAFLW TOTY SQUAD:

Claremont [8]: Megan Green, Jayme Harken, Matilda Husband, Juliet Kelly, Rachel Ortlepp, Matilda Sergeant, Sarah Viney, Mackenzie Webb
East Fremantle [7]: Madison Evans, Ash Gomes, Leanne Gubbins, Maya Louvel-Finn, Noa McNaughton, Brooke Repacholi, Sarah Wielstra
East Perth [2]: Layla Firns, Elly Sara
Peel Thunder [3]: Ebony Bilcich, Ebony Dowson, Chloe Wrigley
Perth [4]: Holly Britton, Mia Carlshausen, Isabella Shannon, Jasmine Single
South Fremantle [3]: Hunter Cronin, Zoe Huggett, Tahleah Mulder
Subiaco [7]: Tess Lyons, Krstel Petrevski, Layla Quinn-Schofield, Aimee Schmidt, Paige Sheppard, Lisa Steane, Olivia Wolmarans
Swan Districts [6]: Summer Ajduk, Carys D’Addario, Taylah Edwards, Jaime Henry, Kayley King, Emily McGuire
West Perth [8]: Emily Bennett, Madison Dodd, Taylor Ferguson, Liliana Grassenis, Megan Norbury, Sara Riou, Mia Russo, Lexi Strachan