South West stars including Margaret River’s Ella Roberts and Manjimup’s Dana East set to light up AFLW

Plenty of talent from the South West will be on display in the 10th season of the AFLW competition which starts on Thursday. West Coast’s hopes of rising up the ladder from 14th into finals contention will be pinned on Margaret River’s Ella Roberts, who will be looking to continue her ascent into superstardom in her fourth season in the competition. Aged just 20 years old, Roberts — who played with Busselton at the outset of the South West Football League women’s competition — won the Eagles’ club champion award and was named in the All Australian side on the back of a brilliant 2024 season. Unleashed as a full-time midfielder, she averaged 21.4 disposals per game while showing she had not lost her attacking traits from her junior days as a tall forward, kicking six goals. At the club’s community camp in the South West in June, Eagles co-captain Bella Lewis said she had no doubt her midfield running mate would become one of the competition’s very best players. “I think it’s inevitable for her, to be honest,” Lewis said. “I think the best part about her this year is that you wouldn’t know that she’s been All Australian and won the best and fairest. “She’s come back even more hungry to learn and get better and ask questions. I think to have that from someone as influential on the field is invaluable for the girls.” Another South West product in Bunbury’s Beth Schilling also stood out for the Eagles last season. The 21-year-old had played only seven games across her first three seasons at the elite level but firmly established herself in the Eagles’ side as an intercept defender in 2024. As well as earning a nomination for the league’s Rising Star award, the Carey Park product finished fourth in West Coast’s club champion award. The Eagles will host the second game of a season-opening double-header against Gold Coast on Thursday night, with the game at Mineral Resources Park set to start from 7.15pm. At Fremantle, Manjimup’s Dana East is set to take her place in a bolstered midfield in her fifth season at the elite level. East was forced to bear a heavy load last season in an on-ball brigade without four-time best and fairest winner Kiara Bowers due to pregnancy and newly-elected captain Ange Stannett, who was sidelined with an ACL injury. But the pair have now returned and are set to boost a Dockers’ outfit which will be hoping to improve on last year’s semifinal exit. East has been among the side’s best performers across their two practice games, a 23-point win over West Coast and a narrow seven-point defeat to St Kilda. The now 23-year-old — a promising junior basketballer who turned her back on the sport as a teenager to pursue football — averaged 13.5 disposals and 3.6 clearances per game for the Dockers last season. Over the off-season, East has been joined at Fremantle by a pair of players who graduated from the South West Football League women’s competition. Bunbury’s Indiana West signed on with the Dockers last week after impressing as a train-on player over the winter months. A member of the Bulldogs’ 2023 and 2024 SWFL women’s premiership-winning sides, West was a promising junior pole vaulter who has risen rapidly since turning her hand football, impressing with WAFLW side Swan Districts in recent seasons. Earlier this year, Poppy Stockwell — who dominated the SWFL women’s competition in the back half of 2024 with Bunbury after a best and fairest-winning season with South Fremantle — also joined with the Dockers. Fremantle will head to Alberton Oval to open their season against Port Adelaide on Sunday, with the game starting at 2.10pm WA time. In June, Donnybrook’s Jess Verbrugge became the first player to graduate out of East Perth’s WAFLW program to the AFLW when she signed with Essendon as a replacement player. The two-time Nola Marino medallist for the best and fairest player in the SWFL women’s competition was playing for the Dons as recently as last year at the conclusion of her commitments with the Royals. Fellow Dons product Charli Wicksteed is entering her third season with Richmond. Wicksteed played eight games in her first year at the level and won the award for the club’s best first year player but did not feature for the Tigers in 2024.