Female junior footballers aged 12-and-above were invited to participate in a football session in Albany before watching the West Coast Eagles AFLW clash against the Bulldogs on the big screen.

A mix of light skills and some fundamental drills warmed the girls up before they went into some match play to showcase their skills and highlight the talent across regional WA.

The girls then moved into the clubrooms at Retravision Stadium for post-training food as they watched their AFLW idols take down the Bulldogs in a Thursday night clash.

Great Southern Community Coordinator Brad Nisbett coordinated the event with local stakeholders to provide young girls in the region with some football development opportunities whilst secondarily connecting them with the Club and some of the AFLW stars in action.

“There was a focus on skills and gameplay with the aim to make it as fun as possible whilst developing some of these female players. However, the idea was not to run it purely as a West Coast Eagles event but to run it alongside the football stakeholders that already exist down here and further develop the already strong existing relationships we have,” he said.

“Down in the Great Southern they’re starting up a new program for female players with 12-to-16-year-olds now being able to join their own clubs whereas previously they had their own separate competition entirely, so that was a big focus for this event and promoting that to further build the game down here was important.”

Nisbett highlighted some of the long-term goals in hosting these types of regional football sessions to continue to develop female football across WA.

“It’d obviously be great to run another event down here and we’ll look to do it again with some of the adult female players too as there’s already a strong buy-in from the women’s competition,” Nisbett said.

“If we can help build the connection between the female juniors and seniors competitions, it will hopefully have a lasting impact in the future for the next generation of players down here.”

“A special thank you goes out to Kathleen Mier and Terry Eaton from the GSFL as well as Jaxon Liddelow from the WAFC for their collaboration on what was a successful afternoon and evening overall.”

The West Coast Eagles are proud to work alongside key figures and local stakeholders within the Great Southern and across other regions to provide impactful programs to regional footballers.