Girls Summer Squad Showcases WA Depth

The WA Football Girls Summer Squad talent program has been named, with the State’s best young players looking to graduate to the AFLW in coming years.

The squad includes the best 2026 and 2027 AFLW Draft prospects, with West Perth producing nine players for the program.

Peel Thunder is the next best represented club with seven players, while East Fremantle has five members of the squad.

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Each of the nine WAFLW clubs are represented in the 38-player squad.

“It is a slightly bigger squad this year and we have about 50 per cent of bottom agers in the group as we think a lot of those players can develop into AFLW prospects in the future,” said Trent Cooper, Manager Female Talent Programs and Coaching Specialist at WA Football.

“We’d like to work with them for a couple of years because we believe some of them aren’t physically mature at the moment, but we see great potential in that younger cohort.”

There were several players who rose to prominence in the State 18s program.

“Cara Dziegielewski, who was rewarded with All-Australian selection, and Lexi Strachan were both great contributors in the 18s program, and we expect them to step up and become real leaders next year as top age players,” he said.

The expanded squad is a positive for WA pathway football.

“We’re probably just getting a bit more depth of talent coming through and with some quality bottom agers it gives them a chance to train alongside better players over summer and fast track their development for either 2026 or 2027,” Cooper said.

“We’re looking forward to seeing how this group progresses over the summer as they look to give themselves the best opportunity to get drafted over the next couple of years.”

The summer squad begins its program at the beginning of December.