WAFLW Team of the Week – Round 2Wednesday, March 22, 2023 - 10:25 AM - by Chris Pike

ROUND 2 of the 2023 WAFLW season is in the books and once again there were plenty of standout performers across the board who were fighting it out for spots in the Team of the Week.

The second round of the 2023 WAFLW season took place across the weekend with wins in the end for South Fremantle, East Fremantle, Subiaco and Claremont.

South Fremantle scored its first win of the season defeating East Perth 11.9 (75) to 1.3 (9) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday evening.

The other three matches all took place on Sunday with East Fremantle scoring its first win of 2023 defeating West Perth 5.10 (40) to 1.6 (12). Subiaco beat Swan Districts 8.9 (57) to 1.4 (10) at Steel Blue Oval and Claremont defeated Peel Thunder 2.13 (25) to 1.1 (7) at Revo Fitness Stadium.

Those results mean that after two rounds, reigning premiers Claremont remain the only team with a perfect 2-0 record to sit atop the table.

Both South Fremantle and Subiaco now have a win and draw from the opening two games with East Fremantle, West Perth and Peel Thunder all sitting at 1-1. Swan Districts and East Perth have both lost their opening two games of 2023.

There were once again plenty of star performances across the four games and here's how the Round 2 Team of the Week came together.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 2
BACK: Liana Burchell (S), Casey Byrne (SF)    
HALF-BACK: Liusaidh Gilchrist (SF), Kim Boulton (EF), Rachel Ortlepp (C)
CENTRE: Tahlea Mulder (SF), Tarni Golisano (S), Jae Flynn (EF)
HALF-FORWARD: Gabby O'Sullivan (EF), Noa McNaughton (SF), Makaela Tuhakaraina (SF)
FORWARD: Kelsey Patterson (S), Anjelique Raison (EF)
RUCK: Ariana Hetherington (SF), Jasmin Stewart (C), Evie Cowcher (PT)
INTERCHANGE: Jaime Henry (SD), Eva Campo (C), Jayme Harken (C), Joanne Cregg (S), Jacinta Valentini (C)

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 2 came together from the weekend's action.

Starting down back and Subiaco's Liana Burchell and South Fremantle's Casey Byrne put in standout defensive performances. Burchell also ended up with 11 possessions while Byrne had six touches, four tackles and a goal.

The half-back line consists of South Fremantle's reigning fairest and best Luci Gilchrist along with East Fremantle's Kim Boulton and Claremont's Rachel Ortlepp. 

Gilchrist has started the new season in strong form again for the Bulldogs and had another 18 possessions, six inside 50s, three tackles and a goal in Saturday night's win against East Perth.

Boulton ended up with nine possessions and two marks down back in East Fremantle's win against West Perth with Ortlepp ending up with 14 disposals, four marks and two tackles in Claremont's victory over Peel Thunder.

Tarni Golisano, Jasmin Stewart and Evie Cowcher make up the three on-ball positions joined by Tahlea Mulder and Jae Flynn as midfielders.

Subiaco captain Golisano produced 25 possessions, five marks, four tackles and a goal in her team's win against Swan Districts with Stewart brilliant for the Tigers against the Thunder with 31 disposals, five tackles, five inside-50 entries and three marks.

Cowcher ended up with 29 touches, eight marks and four tackles in the same game for Peel while Mulder was outstanding for South Fremantle with 21 touches, eight inside-50 entries and five tackles.

Flynn is another player in the WAFLW competition with a basketball background having played 115 SBL/NBL1 games at the Lakeside Lightning. She's now proving herself a key player at East Fremantle and had 21 touches and three tackles in Sunday's win against West Perth.

Speaking of basketballers, Ariana Hetherington is another with more than 100 games and two championships under her belt at the Rockingham Flames, but is now making a strong fist of the start of her WAFLW career.

For the second straight week she is named as the ruck in the Team of the Week after producing 14 possessions, 25 hit outs, five tackles and five inside-50 entries in Saturday night's win over East Perth.

The half-forward line consists of Gabby O'Sullivan, Noa McNaughton and Makaela Tuhakaraina in the Round 2 Team of the Week.

Fremantle Dockers AFLW player O'Sullivan has had an impressive start to the WAFLW season with East Fremantle and had another 24 possessions, six marks, four inside 50s and a goal in the win over the Falcons.

McNaughton kicked three goals from seven kicks and three handpasses in South Fremantle's win over East Perth where Tuhakaraina also ended up with two goals from 16 touches and 10 tackles.

The full-forward line then features Subiaco's Kelsey Patterson and East Fremantle's Anjelique Raison. Patterson kicked another two goals from eight kicks and four marks for the Lions while Raison kicked a goal to go with 18 disposals and 13 hit outs for the Sharks.

The interchange for the Round 2 Team of the Week consists of Jaime Henry, Eva Campo, Jayme Harken, Joanne Cregg and Jacinta Valentini.

Henry started the season in the Rogers Cup team at Swan Districts but came into the WAFLW team on Sunday. She is part of the leadership group at Swans and despite the loss to Subiaco, finished with 19 possessions and five tackles.

Campo put in a strong showing for Claremont in the win against Peel with another 18 possessions and three marks while her teammate Harken had 26 touches, six tackles, five marks and five inside-50 entries.

Another Tigers teammate Valentini also had a performance made up of 26 possessions, three marks and three tackles.

Cregg produced another strong showing in Subiaco's win against Swan Districts with 21 possessions and a goal.