WAFLW Names State Squad For Showdown With SAMonday, April 14, 2025 - 2:33 PM

WAFLW league leaders Subiaco have five representatives in the State side to play South Australia at the Adelaide Oval next month.

The Lions have Lisa Steane, Krstel Petrevski, Tess Lyons, Maggie Maclachlan and Paige Sheppard in the team after winning their opening three matches of the season.

Claremont’s Jack Schwarze will coach WA for the second successive season, suported by assistant coaches Clint Degebrodt, Natalie Szelid and Jenna Allomes.

“I can’t help but feel excited and very confident in the current squad that we have,” Schwarze said.

“We have some returning players from last year’s State team plus most of these girls played together in the recent All Stars match vs U18s where they were very impressive.”

Schwarze explained how tough it was to finalise the squad. 

“Difficult in the sense that the quality across the WAFLW this year has risen dramatically,” he said.

“But also a challenge because this game is much earlier in the season.

“Last year we had three to four rounds to get a gauge of who was performing then a further four weeks of training.

“This year we had to select the initial squad after round 1 and the process has been made easier by having Trent Cooper as the Chairman of Selectors to challenge our thinking and add a different perspective and a wealth of knowledge.

“Last year we selected a squad of around 32 but still added players later.

“This year we have started with a smaller squad of 21 that we will add to as we need over the next couple of weeks.”

The WA coach has begun scouting South Australia.

“We are using our learnings from last year, our knowledge of SA and the current form of these players in the WAFLW to guide our selection,” Schwarze said.

“There are many incredible players missing out at the moment which is challenging to find the best mix but also exciting to watch the group come together.

“SA played a game last week against the VFLW, which on one hand is an advantage for them to get build cohesion, but on the other hand we’ve been able to have a good look at their squad, how they’re likely to play and who is in good form.”

Schwarze, a two time WAFLW Premiership coach, has a passion for this WA side to succeed.

“I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to coach this state team again and play my role in showcasing women’s footy,” he said.

“One day the growth of women’s footy will reach a plateau but that moment is not yet here, so I get to continue to witness first-hand how good these female players are becoming.

“But as much as we love the opportunity this game brings, the message has been that we are not just going over to Adelaide to improve, we are going there to win.”

  State WAFLW Team