Six West Australians have been selected in the 2024 Telstra AFLW Draft at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Molly O’Hehir (Melbourne), Zipporah Fish (Sydney), Claudia Wright (Brisbane), Lily Paterson (Port Adelaide), Taya Chambers (Essendon) and Indi Strom (Fremantle) were in a group of 60 players taken in the Draft where, for the first time, all nominees were available to be selected by any of the 18 clubs.
WA produced two of the Top 5 picks with O’Hehir selected by the Demons at pick 3 and Fish snapped up by the Swans at selection 5.
Wright joined the Lions from Claremont at pick 16, Paterson is heading to the Power from Swan Districts as pick 19, Chambers is moving from East Fremantle to the Bombers after being grabbed at selection 30 and South Fremantle’s Indi Strom is now a Docker, selected at 51.
Trent Cooper, Manager Female Talent Programs and Coaching Specialist at the
West Australian Football Commission, believes it’s a strong result for WA football.
“To have two players selected in the top five and four in the first round is a great result in the first fully national draft,” Cooper said.
“We are proud of all the players who have been given an opportunity at AFLW level and will follow their careers with great interest.
“We are certain that quite a few players that missed out on the draft will be invited to train with AFLW clubs and expect that a couple of them could still be picked up before the next AFLW season.”