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2019 NAB AFL Women’s Academy squads
Ten of Western Australia's most promising young female footballers have been named in the 2019 NAB AFL Women’s Academy squads.
Mikayla Bowen (Swan Districts), Rosie Deegan (Subiaco), Courtney Hodder (Peel Thunderbirds), pictured, Emma O'Driscoll (Swan Districts), Tayla Pescud (Swan Districts) and Roxanne Roux (East Fremantle), have been named in the Level 2 squad, while Abbey Dowrick (Subiaco), Brianna Hyde (Swan Districts), Mikayla Hyde (Swan Districts) and Sarah Verrier (Peel Thunderbirds) have been included in the Level 1 squad.
They will each receive a NAB AFL Women’s Academy scholarship that provides high performance camps and personal development opportunities over a 12-month period.
From The Desert To The Big Smoke
The Western Desert is a region in remote central Australia where the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson deserts converge and its inhabitants have a deep connection with country.
Stretching 600,000 square kilometres from the Nullarbor in the South to the Kimberley in the North, and from Percival Lakes in the West to the Pintupi lands in the Northern Territory, it’s an area rich in culture and biodiversity where bilbies, rock wallabies and quolls actually exist outside of urban myth. So why would three Western Desert youths want to leave the world’s most iconic desert landscape?
Loyal Bulldog announces retirement
THE changes at South Fremantle this off-season have continued with another great and favourite son of the Bulldogs deciding to retire while another former AFL player has decided to return in 2019.
On the back of the retirements of Ashton Hams and Ryan Cook, and the departure of Shane Hockey, at the end of the 2018 WAFL season, Cory Dell'Olio has decided to join the trio on the list of outs for the Bulldogs in 2019 along with the ever-popular and dedicated Jarrod Parry.
It's not all about the departures for South Fremantle looking to 2019, though, with the Bulldogs entering the season on the back of three successive second-place finishes at the end of the home and away seasons, and preliminary final appearances under coach Todd Curley.
WAFC enhances focus on coaching development
THE West Australian Football Commission will enhance its focus on coaching development with the appointment of long-serving coach Tony Micale to a new role mentoring WA’s Talent Pathway coaches.
Micale spent eight years as an AFL Assistant/Development coach at the West Coast Eagles, including the 2005 and 2006 grand finals. He also coached 188 WAFL matches with an impressive 129-59 win-loss record including six grand finals for four Premierships.
He will now share his extensive knowledge in the new role of WAFC Talent Pathway Coaching Coordinator.
AFLW fixture and conferences confirmed
Fremantle will play four home games in the 2019 NAB AFLW season with the league also confirming that the club has been seeded in Conference A alongside the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne, Adelaide and North Melbourne.
The 2019 AFLW season will be the first to involve conferences, with Brisbane, GWS, Collingwood, Carlton and Geelong making up the teams in Conference B.
WA players named for NAB AFL Academy Squad
The AFL has announced that 28 West Australian players will be part of the 2018-19 NAB AFL Academy squads.
The expanded NAB AFL Academy Program will now see 150 players engaged in high performance camps conducted across five talent regions; Vic Country, Vic Metro, South Australia, Western Australia and Allies (New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory).
The Academies will come together for their first camps in the coming weeks, with Western Australia's to be held from December 10 to 15.
Another two WA players added to AFLW lists
West Australians Kirby Bentley and Katie-Jayne Grieve have been added to AFLW lists after being signed as free agents following the 2018 NAB AFLW Draft this week.
The pair have swapped clubs, with Bentley joining Carlton after a stint at Fremantle in 2017, while Grieve heads to the Dockers after two games with the Blues in 2018.
Bentley was initially recruited by Fremantle from Swan Districts as a priority selection in 2016 and played all seven games in the inaugural AFLW season before suffering a knee injury.
WAFC congratulates AFLW Draftees
THE West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) congratulates the 10 WA players selected in the 2018 NAB AFLW Draft in Melbourne today, which included number 4 pick Jasmin Stewart, pictured, from Claremont to Fremantle Football Club.
WAFC CEO Gavin Taylor congratulated all of the players selected and said the result highlighted the continued growth and development of female football talent in Western Australia.
Colledge rewarded with Butcher Medal
THE most consistent season of his career has led to Brant Colledge claiming the Butcher Medal for 2018 as Perth's fairest and best winner with his body allowing the former West Coast Eagle to show what he's fully capable.
Colledge has always looked a tremendously capable footballer at both the AFL and WAFL level when his body has allowed him to be fully fit, but unfortunately for him that hasn’t been the case often enough.
But it did happen for longer than at any other point in his career during 2018 and the result was the best and most consistent season of his career with the Demons.
Power added to AFL Umpire list
West Australian Football League Umpire Justin Power has been added to the AFL Field Umpire List for 2019 after continuing to impress in the WAFL.
Power, who has umpired 102 Senior games including three consecutive WAFL Grand Finals from 2016 to 2018, becomes just the second WA-based umpire in the past 10 years to be elevated to the AFL Umpire list following Nathan Williamson’s appointment in 2017.
Power, who has been an AFL Rookie Umpire for the past two seasons, said that umpiring in the AFL had become a dream not long after receiving his first green uniform at the age of 13 when he signed up to keep fit and earn some pocket money.
Bolton caps brilliant 2018 with Claremont fairest and best
IT is hard to imagine that Jye Bolton could have possibly done anymore to lead Claremont from the front in 2018 and the dual Sandover Medallist capped his brilliant season with a second EB Cook Medal as well.
Bolton was in his third season in the WAFL with Claremont since he crossed from VFL club Werribee and while he hasn’t quite been able to achieve the team success he craves, it's hard to imagine the three years could have gone too much better from an individual standpoint.
Bolton arrived at Claremont in 2016 and had a stunning first season playing for the WAFL State Team, winning the Simpson Medal and then finishing the season with both the Sandover Medal and Cook Medal as Claremont's fairest and best winner.
Hampson the runaway winner of Lynn Medal
IT was a season to forget in 2018 for East Fremantle winning just two games but one man who did everything in his power to try and inspire the Sharks was George Hampson.
In a season where he brought up his 100-game WAFL milestone along the way and was able to get through with his body sound after making some changes to his recovery and training regime, Hampson took out the Lynn Medal as East Fremantle's fairest and best winner.
There was precious little to like out of the season for the Sharks as they won just the two matches to end up with the wooden spoon with coach Rob Wiley deciding to not seek a new contract and former captain Jamie McNamara retiring along the way as well.
WAFL assessing AFL rule changes
Historically, rule changes implemented by the AFL have been adopted in the WAFL competition following a period of review and assessment.
In line with this approach, the West Australian Football Commission’s Football Affairs Committee will review the rule changes announced by the AFL and assess how these may be applied to the WAFL competition as early as 2019.
WAFL top draft prospects star in State Combine
2018 Subiaco Colts Premiership player Wil Hickmott and Next Generation Academy player Jason Carter were among the players to impress at this year’s NAB AFL State Draft Combine on Sunday, October 14.
Hickmott recorded top results in the 20 metre Sprint, Agility test and Yo-Yo test, while Carter finished on top in the Vertical Jump and Running Vertical Jump and also impressed in the 20m Sprint.
Howlett, Pearce share Peel's Tuckey Medal
THE returning Ben Howlett and out of favour AFL veteran Danyle Pearce both did all they could to try and get Peel Thunder back into the finals in 2018 and were rewarded by sharing the Tuckey Medal as fairest and best winners.
On the back of playing in the club's first three ever finals series and winning the past two WAFL premierships, Peel wasn’t quite able to back it up and reach the finals again in 2018.
But that didn’t mean there weren’t some highlights along the way and some standout performers for the Thunder.
