WAFLW Team of the Week – Round 12Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 11:05 PM - by Chris Pike

DESPITE being just 15 and 16 respectively, Juliet Kelly and Renee Morgan were among the standouts in Round 12 of the WAFLW to earn places in the Team of the Week while South Fremantle's Ariana Hetherington made it for a seventh time and Claremont's Matilda Sergeant a sixth.

Teenagers Kelly and Morgan were among the terrific performers in wins for their Claremont and South Fremantle teams respectively in Round 12 of the WAFLW competition, but they were far from the only players to have big performances.

Hetherington was again tremendous in the ruck for South Fremantle to earn a place for a seventh time already in 2023 to be joined by Bulldogs teammates Morgan, Lauren Vecchio, Molly O'Hehir, Noa McNaughton and Trinity Brown from their win against Peel Thunder.

Claremont maintained their hold on top position with a win against Subiaco in Broome. From that game, not only did Kelly earn a place in the Team of the Week from the Tigers but was joined by Kobi Nichols and Sergeant.

Swan Districts made it seven consecutive wins by beating East Perth on Sunday as well with Demi Liddle, Taylah Edwards, Ruby Mahony and Hope Ugle-Hayward all earning places in the Team of the Week.

East Fremantle consolidated fourth position as well by beating West Perth with the Sharks represented by Ashleigh Gomes, Chloe Reilly and Zipporah Fish.

Also named to the Team of the Week for Round 12 are West Perth's Jess Roper and Taylor Ferguson, Peel Thunder's Evie Cowcher, East Perth's Chloe Sauzier, and Subiaco's Eva Popovsky.

There were once again plenty of star performances across the four games and here's how the Round 12 Team of the Week came together.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 12

BACK: Jess Roper (WP), Renee Morgan (SF)
HALF-BACK: Evie Cowcher (PT), Juliet Kelly (C), Demi Liddle (SD)
CENTRE: Ashleigh Gomes (EF), Lauren Vecchio (SF), Taylor Ferguson (WP)
HALF-FORWARD: Chloe Reilly (EF), Noa McNaughton (SF), Taylah Edwards (SD)
FORWARD: Trinity Brown (SF), Chloe Sauzier (EP)
FOLLOWERS: Kobi Nichols (C), Molly O'Hehir (SF), Ruby Mahony (SD)
INTERCHANGE: Ariana Hetherington (SF), Eva Popovsky (S), Matilda Sergeant (C), Zipporah Fish (EF), Hope Ugle-Hayward (SD)

Each week of the WAFLW season during 2023, we will be selecting a Team of the Week and here's how the side for Round 12 came together from the weekend's action.

The full-back line in the Round 12 Team of the Week is made up of West Perth's Jess Roper and South Fremantle's Renee Morgan.

Roper earned her place in the Team of the Week for a second straight week and the third time this season on the back of having 16 possessions, four tackles and three marks on Sunday against East Fremantle.

It was a stunning WAFLW debut for 16-year-old South Fremantle rising star Morgan who stepped up from the Rogers Cup team to play Peel Thunder on Sunday. She ended up with 23 touches, nine inside 50s and four tackles.

The half-back line for Round 12 features Peel Thunder's Evie Cowcher, Claremont's Juliet Kelly and Swan Districts' Demi Liddle.

It was another tough afternoon on Sunday for Peel against South Fremantle, but down back it was Cowcher who produced a standout performance in the defeat. She ended up with 30 possessions, 12 marks and four tackles to be named to the Team of the Week for a fourth time in 2023.

It was a stunning performance in Broome from 15-year-old Claremont young gun Kelly who ended the game with 15 possessions in the back-line in the win against Subiaco.

Liddle put together another strong performance down back for a Swan Districts team who won their seventh straight match. She was named to the Team of the Week for a first time this season thanks to her 15 touches, four marks and three tackles.

There were again plenty of midfielders putting their hands up for a spot in the Team of the Week and the on-ballers for Round 12 were South Fremantle pair Molly O'Hehir and Lauren Vecchio, and Swan Districts' Ruby Mahony.

South Fremantle scored a big win against Peel Thunder and two of the key reasons to that were O'Hehir and Vecchio in the midfield. O'Hehir picked up 23 possessions and seven inside-50 entries while captain Vecchio racked up 29 disposals, seven tackles, three marks and three inside 50s.

Mahony's form in the midfield has been a key part of Swan Districts stringing together seven straight victories now. She had another 20 possessions and six tackles in the win against East Perth to earn a spot in the Team of the Week for a fifth time.

Named on the wings were East Fremantle's Ashleigh Gomes and West Perth's Taylor Ferguson with Claremont's Kobi Nichols named to the ruck.

East Fremantle had a strong win against West Perth and instrumental in that was Gomes who ended up with 20 touches, five inside-50 entries and four marks to earn a place for the fourth occasion this year.

Ferguson earned her second selection in the Team of the Week for the season after she battled hard in that same game for West Perth with 21 touches, eight marks and four tackles.

Nichols showed her versatility for Claremont in Broome in the win against Subiaco and was named to the ruck as a result after finishing the game with 17 disposals, eight hit outs, four marks, three tackles and three entries inside the forward 50.

The three players named across half-forward for Round 12 are East Fremantle's Chloe Reilly, South Fremantle's Noa McNaughton and Swan Districts' Taylah Edwards.

Reilly made a stunning start to the game for East Fremantle against West Perth and by the end of the win, she had kicked four goals for the Sharks from eight kicks and four marks to be named to the Team of the Week for a second time.

McNaughton had another terrific showing for South Fremantle in the forward-line in the win against Peel by kicking two goals to go with 19 possessions and two entries inside the forward 50.

Edwards then had a dominant performance for Swan Districts in the big win against East Perth. She kicked five goals from her eight kicks, six tackles and six marks to be named to the Team of the Week for a second occasion.

The two players in the full-forward line are South Fremantle's Trinity Brown and East Perth's Chloe Sauzier.

Brown was another member of the South Fremantle forward-line to put together a strong performance in the win against Peel on Sunday. She kicked two goals to go with 14 possessions, five marks, five marks and two inside-50 entries.

It was another tough outing for East Perth against Swan Districts on Sunday but Sauzier did what she could to lift her team. She earned a place in the Team of the Week for a second time thanks to 16 touches, five marks and three tackles.

The five interchange players are Ariana Hetherington, Eva Popovsky, Matilda Sergeant, Zipporah Fish and Hope Ugle-Hayward.

Hetherington was yet again superb in the ruck for South Fremantle and was named to the Team of the Week for a seventh time already this season thanks to her 19 touches, 19 hit outs, six marks, four tackles and three inside-50 entries.

Popovsky has been a consistent performer all season long for Subiaco and was rewarded with a place in the Team of the Week for Round 12 on the back of 15 possessions, nine tackles and four marks against Claremont in Broome.

In that same game, Sergeant was terrific for Claremont ending the afternoon with 22 touches, six tackles and four inside 50s to earn selection for a sixth time in 2023, and fourth successive week.

East Fremantle scored an important win against West Perth on Sunday at Joondalup and Fish was instrumental in that finishing with 14 possessions, four inside 50s, three tackles and two marks.

Ugle-Hayward shook off falling foul of COVID during the week to be right to play by Sunday and deliver a tremendous performance made up of 16 touches, four inside 50s, three tackles and a goal.