WAFLW Team of the Week – Round 16Tuesday, June 27, 2023 - 11:16 PM - by Chris Pike

The home and away season in the WAFLW competition is now over and once again the final round across the weekend saw plenty of impressive performances as players jostled over positions in the Team of the Week for the last time.

It was the last game of the season ultimately for Subiaco, West Perth, Peel Thunder and East Perth while top two teams Claremont and South Fremantle won ahead of their second semi-final match up.

East Fremantle then won to not only guarantee a spot in the finals but to move up to third position on the ladder while Swan Districts will now take them on in a first semi-final.

The final round of the 2023 WAFLW season got underway on Saturday afternoon at Yanchep's Splendid Park with Subiaco finishing its season on a high note by beating West Perth 5.7 (37) to 0.1 (1).

From that victory, Tiah Toth, Tarni Golisano and Hayley Corlett are all represented in the Team of the Week from the Lions. Taylor Ferguson once again made it from the Falcons.

The other game on Saturday took place at Leederville Oval with Claremont remaining unbeaten for the season by keeping East Perth winless in the 6.5 (41) to 0.2 (2) victory.

Claire Ortlepp, Matilda Sergeant and Jayme Harken all made the Team of the Week from the Tigers as did Jorja Elisseou from the Royals as their inaugural WAFLW season came to a close.

The other two Round 16 matches took place on Sunday with East Fremantle securing its finals place by beating Peel Thunder 8.10 (58) to 0.0 (0) at Mandurah's Lane Group Stadium.

From that win, Leanne Gubbins, Zipporah Fish, Mylee Leitch, Elsie Simpson, Georgie Cleaver and Beth Beckett all earned places in the Team of the Week. Evie Cowcher and Ebony Dowson also made it from the Thunder.

The close game of the weekend featured two finals bound teams with South Fremantle holding on to beat Swan Districts 3.2 (20) to 2.5 (17) at Steel Blue Oval.

South Fremantle is represented in the Team of the Week as a result by Renee Morgan, Ella Matthews and Kahra Sprlyan. Swan Districts had Demi Liddle and Taylah Edwards make it.

WAFLW TEAM OF THE WEEK – ROUNDS 16

BACK: Leanne Gubbins (EF), Renee Morgan (SF)
HALF-BACK: Evie Cowcher (PT), Demi Liddle (SD), Claire Ortlepp (C)
CENTRE: Tiah Toth (S), Tarni Golisano (S), Zipporah Fish (EF)
HALF-FORWARD: Mylee Leitch (EF), Taylah Edwards (SD), Ella Matthews (SF)
FORWARD: Hayley Corlett (S), Elsie Simpson (EF)
FOLLOWERS: Georgie Cleaver (EF), Taylor Ferguson (WP), Matilda Sergeant (C)
INTERCHANGE: Kahra Sprlyan (SF), Beth Beckett (EF), Ebony Dowson (PT), Jorja Elisseou (EP), Jayme Harken (C)

Each week of the WAFLW season during 2023, we have been selecting a Team of the Week and here's how the side for Round 16 came together from this weekend's action.

The two full-back positions went to East Fremantle's Leanne Gubbins and Renee Morgan from South Fremantle.

Gubbins was rock solid in the East Fremantle back-line once more in the win against Peel to earn a place in the Team of the Week for a second time this year and finishing with 13 possessions, three marks and three inside-50 entries.

It has been a spectacular start to the WAFLW career of South Fremantle teenager Morgan. The 16-year-old was tremendous once more against Swan Districts finishing with 23 touches, eight marks, six tackles and four inside 50s to make the Team of the Week for a third time in the last five weeks.

The half-back positions for the last round of the WAFLW season were awarded to Peel Thunder's Evie Cowcher, Swan Districts' Demi Liddle and Claremont's Claire Ortlepp.

Peel might have gone scoreless against East Fremantle but that didn’t stop Cowcher still doing what she could to keep them in the contest with her performance off half-back. She finished her tremendous season with a sixth selection in the Team of the Week on the back of 29 touches, eight marks and five tackles.

Liddle has been instrumental in Swan Districts' charge into the WAFLW finals this season and was rock solid once again down back on Sunday despite the narrow loss to South Fremantle. She finished with 14 touches, five marks, five tackles and two entries inside the forward 50.

Ortlepp has remained a key player in Claremont's back-line in their remarkable season and she finished off the last game of the home and away campaign in style against East Perth. She had another 15 disposals, four marks and four inside 50s to make the Team of the Week for a seventh time.

The battle over positions in the midfield was once again a hot one a whole host of players putting their hands up for positions. In the end, the three on-ball spots went to Subiaco's Tarni Golisano, West Perth's Taylor Ferguson and Claremont's Matilda Sergeant.

Subiaco might have narrowly missed out on a finals position but captain Golisano had a fantastic season that included celebrating her 150th game. She finished off strongly with 16 possessions and six tackles against West Perth to be named to the Team of the Week for a seventh occasion.

Ferguson played in that same game to complete her first season with West Perth and she did so in terrific form as well with another 14 disposals, three tackles and two marks for the Falcons. That saw her named to the Team of the Week for a fourth time.

Then there is Sergeant who has been a prime mover in the Claremont midfield with the reigning premiers going through the season without a loss and just the draw on the way to finishing on top. 

She was superb again against East Perth with 23 touches, seven tackles, four inside 50s and three marks to be named to the Team of the Week for an eighth time across the season.

The wing positions in the Round 16 Team of the Week went the way of Subiaco's Tiah Toth and East Fremantle's Zipporah's Fish.

Toth completed yet another fine season with the Lions with 17 possessions, three tackles and a goal against West Perth to make the Team of the Week for the fourth time throughout 2023.

Fish will now ready herself for East Fremantle's finals campaign on the back of a performance against Peel consisting of 21 touches, eight tackles and six marks that saw her make the Team of the Week for a third time.

The ruck spot for Round 16 went the way of East Fremantle's Georgie Cleaver as she finished with 19 possessions, 23 hit outs, three marks and a goal in the Sharks' win against the Thunder.

The half-forward positions for Round 16 are occupied by East Fremantle's Mylee Leitch, Swan Districts' Taylah Edwards and South Fremantle's Ella Matthews.

Leitch earned a spot in the Team of the Week for the Sharks for the first time this season ahead of the finals on the back of kicking two goals to go with 16 possessions, eight marks, four tackles and four inside-50 entries in the win over Peel.

Edwards kicked two late goals for Swan Districts to give her team a sniff at snatching the win from South Fremantle. She ended up with seven kicks, two marks and two inside-50 entries for the game to make the Team of the Week for a fourth time.

In the same game, Matthews produced an impressive showing for South Fremantle kicking a goal to go with her nine possessions, three inside-50 entries and two tackles.

The full-forward spots in the Team of Week went the way of Subiaco's Hayley Corlett and East Fremantle's Elsie Simpson.

Corlett kicked another two goals in the last game of the season for Subiaco in the win against West Perth where she also had nine kicks, four inside 50s and three marks to make the Team of the Week for a second consecutive round.

Simpson was another player to produce an impressive performance in the forward-line for East Fremantle in the win against Peel on Sunday to secure a finals spot. She kicked two goals from nine kicks and five marks.

On the interchange in the Round 16 Team of the Week are Kahra Sprlyan, Beth Beckett, Ebony Dowson, Jorja Elisseou and Jayme Harken.

Sprlyan was another South Fremantle player to impress in a tight win against Swan Districts on Sunday where she produced 18 disposals, four tackles and two marks to make the Team of the Week for the fourth time.

East Fremantle secured a finals spot by beating the Thunder on Sunday and Beckett was again a key component of the midfield for the Sharks. She earned a place in the Team of the Week for a fifth time this season thanks to 23 touches, seven tackles and three marks.

In that same game, Dowson completed her standout season as captain of Peel even if her team failed to score against East Fremantle. She finished with another 26 touches, five marks and three tackles to make the Team of the Week for a ninth occasion.

East Perth completed its first WAFLW season against Claremont on Saturday and it was Elisseou who produced her best showing of 2023 to be named to the Team of the Week. She delivered 17 possessions, six tackles and three entries inside the forward 50.

Harken put together a brilliant season for Claremont and that was no different against East Perth heading into the finals. She delivered a performance made up of 21 disposals, seven tackles, two marks and two inside 50s to reach the Team of the Week for a ninth time in 2023.