AFLW 2025: Injuries mount as West Coast Eagles head to Casey Fields to take on Melbourne

West Coast are battling a bout of the flu and a string of injuries ahead of a clash with second-placed Melbourne on Sunday.

Ruck Liz McGrath rolled her ankle in Sunday’s western derby and is set to miss up to a month of football, while sensational draftee Lucia Painter will miss the trip to Casey Fields after a delayed concussion.

Veteran Emma Swanson is also out of the match as she serves a one-game suspension. Annabel Johnson is set to make her club debut, while Lucy Boyd, Sanne Bakker, Kayley Kavanagh and Belinda Smith are named on the extended bench.

However, coach Daisy Pearce was confident her side had developed the depth to cover the mounting injury ward.

“The beauty of our squad this year is we just keep trying to develop depth across our full list, and with only 30 players on an AFLW list, you head into the season knowing we’ll need it at some point,” Pearce said on Thursday.

“It’s disappointing for Lu, she’ll miss this week with concussion. She was cleared to return to play on the day, but then developed some symptoms after.

“She’s doing well now and progressing well, but the main thing is looking after her and ensuring she’s all good.

“Liz will miss with her ankle. She rolled her ankle and will miss three to four weeks, and then Swanny unfortunately got suspended for a week.”

Pearce won’t be able to call on the experience of Dana Hooker to cover the leadership void left by Swanson, either, revealing the club had been battling an outbreak of flu in recent weeks.

“Hooks has had some illness herself,” she said.

“We’ve had some flu go through the team over the last couple of weeks, and she was one of the last to go down, so she’s missed a bit of training, so she’ll be unavailable this week. Definitely would have loved her experience out there.”

The losses come at the worst possible time for the rising group.

Their loss to Fremantle has put West Coast a game behind the top four; however, an unlikely victory would put the Eagles in the box seat to achieve their maiden finals appearance, with four of their last six matches to be played at Mineral Resources Park.

And Pearce has highlighted the midfield battle as the key to the visitors’ success.

“I think one of Melbourne’s real strengths is their fundamentals around the ball, so as damaging as their forwards are, it’s sometimes the supply they get.

“They’re so clean with their skills around the ball, so a big focus for us will be our pressure.

“It’s been a big area of growth for us this year, our ability to sustain our pressure through quarters, so we’ll be looking to bring our best pressure game because we think if we can limit the supply that their forwards get, it will really help our backs out.

“It’s probably the biggest thing we’re focusing on in terms of nullifying their impact. There’s some good players but we back our backs in if we can get pressure on the ball.”