WAFLW Team of the Week – Round 3Tuesday, March 28, 2023 - 10:54 AM - by Chris Pike

THERE were wins for East Fremantle, South Fremantle, Claremont and Peel Thunder in Round 3 of the WAFLW season with plenty of standout performances earning players a place in the Team of the Week.

With the Sharks beating the Lions in a tight contest and then strong wins in Round 3 for the Bulldogs, Tigers and Thunder, there were no shortage of strong candidates in the WAFLW Team of the Week once more.

Round 3 got underway on Saturday at Leederville Oval with East Fremantle scoring a narrow 5.4 (34) to 4.4 (28) win against Subiaco.

Then later on Saturday afternoon, South Fremantle defeated West Perth 6.13 (49) to 3.3 (21) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The round continued on Sunday afternoon with Claremont remaining undefeated in 2023 and Swan Districts staying winless with the Tigers prevailing 5.10 (40) to 2.4 (16) at Steel Blue Oval.

The round then wrapped up at Leederville Oval with Peel Thunder recording a second win of 2023 and keeping East Perth winless, prevailing 5.6 (36) to 1.5 (11).

There were once again plenty of star performances across the four games and here's how the Round 3 Team of the Week came together.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUND 3
BACK: Brooke Hongell (WP), Carys D'Addario (SD)    
HALF-BACK: Taya Chambers (EF), Beth Schilling (S), Claire Ortlepp (C)
CENTRE: Tiah Toth (S), Ashleigh Gomes (EF), Chloe Wrigley (PT)
HALF-FORWARD: Jayme Harken (C), Bethany Bond (SF), Amy Mulholland (S)
FORWARD: Jacinta Valentini (C), Tanisha Anderson (PT)
RUCK: Emmelie Fiedler (EF), Tarni Golisano (S), Tahleah Mulder (SF)
INTERCHANGE: Zoe Huggett (SF), Jaide Britton (PT), Chloe Sauzier (EP), Ruby Mahony (SD), Lauren Vecchio (SF)

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 3 came together from the weekend's action.

Starting with the back-line, and it's West Perth's Brooke Hongell and Swan Districts' Carys D'Addario occupying the positions to earn spots in the Team of the Week for the first time in 2023.

Hongell was a premiership player with Claremont last year but has made the move to West Perth in 2023 and was tremendous despite Saturday's loss to South Fremantle with 25 possessions, four marks and three tackles from defence.

D'Addario is still only 16 years of age but has made the leap from Rogers Cup leading goalscorer last year for Swan Districts to playing impressively down back in the WAFLW. She finished with 21 disposals, six marks and five tackles against Claremont.

Then the half-back line is made up of East Fremantle's Taya Chambers, Subiaco's Beth Schilling and Claremont's Claire Ortlepp.

Chambers earned a spot for the first time this season with 15 possessions, five marks and two tackles in the narrow win against Subiaco.

Schilling is another named to the Team of the Week for a first time in 2023 after a strong showing in tight loss to East Fremantle with 14 touches, three marks and two tackles.

Ortlepp was another standout performer in Claremont's win against Swan Districts. She starred by setting up play from the back-line with 25 disposals, five marks, five tackles an three entries inside the forward 50.

There were once again a host of players putting their hands up for selection across the midfield and the three on-ballers named were East Fremantle's Ashleigh Gomes, Subiaco's Tarni Golisano and South Fremantle's Tahleah Mulder.

Subiaco's Tiah Toth and Peel Thunder's Chloe Wrigley are the players to round out the midfield contingent for Round 3.

Gomes was named to the Team of the Week for the first time so far in 2023 on the back of delivering 21 possessions and six marks in the win against Subiaco.

Subiaco captain Golisano earned a second straight Team of the Week selection following 23 touches, five marks and three tackles for the Lions against the Sharks.

Mulder continued her tremendous form for South Fremantle in the win over West Perth to be named to the Team of the Week in consecutive weeks. She produced 23 touches, six inside 50s, five tackles and two marks.

Then there is Subiaco's Toth who has had another fine start to the season and delivered 22 disposals, four tackles and three marks in the close loss to East Fremantle.

Wrigley is another to open the 2023 season in superb form and in Peel's win against East Perth, she ended up with 23 possessions and a phenomenal 17 tackles.

Several players then put themselves in the mix for the ruck spot for Round 3 and it went to East Fremantle's Emmelie Fiedler. She ended up with 22 hit outs to go with 11 possessions in the win over Subiaco.

The half-forward line then consists of Claremont's Jayme Harken, South Fremantle's Bethany Bond and Subiaco's Amy Mulholland.

Harken has now been named to the Team of the Week in each of the opening three rounds and she finished with another 20 touches, three marks and three inside-50 entries for the Tigers against Swans on Sunday.

Bond produced a standout performance in Saturday's win for South Fremantle against West Perth kicking three goals from 17 possessions, five inside-50 entries, three marks and three tackles.

Mulholland ended up kicking two goals for Subiaco against East Fremantle from 14 disposals, three marks, two tackles and two entries inside the forward 50.

The full-forward line for Round 3 is consisting of Claremont's Jacinta Valentini and Peel Thunder's Tanisha Anderson.

Valentini is another from Claremont to have found a place in all three editions of the Team of the Week so far in 2023. She kicked another goal from 16 disposals, five inside 50s and four marks in the win against Swan Districts.

Anderson was then a standout in attack in Peel's win against East Perth kicking three goals from six kicks to go with six tackles.

The interchange for the Round 3 Team of the Week is made up of South Fremantle's Zoe Huggett, Peel Thunder's Jaide Britton, East Perth's Chloe Sauzier, Swan Districts' Ruby Mahony and Bulldogs captain Lauren Vecchio.

In South Fremantle's win over West Perth, Huggett was a livewire all afternoon up forward and only kicking 1.4 stopped from a dominant showing. She also had 14 possessions and seven marks with Vecchio producing 19 disposals, seven tackles and four marks.

It was another tough showing for East Perth in the loss to Peel Thunder but Sauzier battled hard for the Royals to finish with 16 touches, six marks and five tackles.

In the same game, Britton delivered 17 touches, nine tackles and three marks for Peel.

Mahony was another to impress for Swan Districts despite the loss to Claremont with 17 disposals and three tackles.