WESTERN Australia has named the 26-strong squad it will send to the 2026 AFLW National Development Championships next month. The group of predominant 2010-born talents were locked in yesterday by the West Australian Football Talent Program, and features all nine WAFL Women’s clubs.

Headlining the list is Bella Nelson, a West Perth young gun who returns for her remarkable third Under 16s campaign, having played for the first time after just turning 14. Ready for League football, the talented player is one of five West Perth players, with the Falcons and Swans Districts notching up a league-high total of representatives.

Outside of those two WAFLW clubs, East Fremantle has four representatives, South Fremantle has three – including two late inclusions in Bailee Pike and Olivia Henderson. Claremont, East Perth, Peel Thunder and Subiaco all have two players in the team, with Perth having Monet Cannon as its sole representative for the upcoming championships.

Another Falcon who has been there before is Vienna Matera, the niece of former Eagles trio, Peter, Wally and Phillip, while Claremont’s Indi Slocombe is the younger sister of Roo-turned-Eagle Ella. The only father-daughter eligible player is Trista Smoker though, with the young Falcon dad Craig playing 17 games with Melbourne in the late 90s. The Eagles might end up ruing having him on the list but failing to play a game, meaning the Dees are the only eligible club.

The West Australian squad will head to Adelaide and Melbourne across two separate weeks as part of the two-game National Development Championships on April 7 and 16 respectively.

2026 WESTERN AUSTRALIA U16 GIRLS SQUAD: