Pia’s Promotion A Blessing For BulldogsWednesday, April 23, 2025 - 8:25 AM

Pia Faletti has made a seamless transition to senior coach of South Fremantle in the WAFLW.

Three wins from four matches have the Bulldogs entrenched in the top four with a showdown against Subiaco this weekend.

South Fremantle suffered its first loss for the season when they went down to Claremont by 22 points in Round 4.

Faletti has held key coaching positions at Subiaco (Rogers Cup and WAFLW) and in the AFLW with the West Coast Eagles.

Those appointments come off the back of her playing 200 games for Coastal Titans/Subiaco.

Faletti has also been Head Coach of the WA State 16s as well as coaching with the State 18s, playing a key role in the development of our emerging female talent.

“It has been a blend of challenging and exciting going from an assistant at AFLW and WAFLW level over the last few years to now being at the helm,” Faletti said.

“I am naturally an optimistic person, so navigating the ebbs and flows of performance and people management through adversity and success has been a challenge I've really enjoyed.

“I'm proud of our start to the season, but equally excited and grounded knowing there is still plenty of room for learning, growth, and ongoing improvement within the playing and coaching group.”

 For Faletti, an English teacher at Warwick Senior High School, footy was more about watching than participating in her teenage years.

“My love of footy came from spending time with my brothers growing up, both watching footy with them and watching them play footy because I didn't have those opportunities,” she said.

“When I eventually took up the sport at 21 I threw myself into it and was able to have a career I'm proud of.

“I certainly wasn't a superstar but relished going to work with my teammates week in, week out, for over 11 years.

“Coaching opportunities probably came before I'd considered them for myself, but others had the belief in me and once I started, the reward I felt from helping players get individual and team success was not something I could walk away from.

“I'm proud knowing that the majority of players from both the Junior Community and Rogers Cup teams I coached in 2019 are still playing football across PFL, WAFLW and AFLW.

“I think the next step is to strengthen the pathway for female coaches, so I'm keen to stick around to continue to build that going forward.” 

Faletti has a strong set of values she uses as part of her coaching philosophy.

“Every day is an opportunity to get better,” she said.

“The tricky part is that in order to do that we have to be committed to going beyond what is comfortable and challenging ourselves, which will inherently come with mistakes and vulnerability.

“I want players to be empowered to make decisions and take risks in game but know if they don't come off as planned, they have the support to work through the challenges and lessons in preparation for the scenario that follows; be it the next contest, the game outcome, or their individual self-reflection on performance.

“Footy is a beautiful yet chaotic game so if players show a commitment to embrace the challenges that come with both of these aspects, I'm very content.”

The Bulldogs finished sixth last year, so missing the finals has provided added fuel for the playing group.

“We're all hungry to play finals, because finals mean more games and more opportunities to perform under a level of pressure that you can't replicate at training,” Faletti said.

“There's a group of players who experienced finals with South Fremantle a few years ago and they're really driving and reinforcing the standards needed to be a consistently high performing team, complemented by new inclusions who are hungry to perform.

“There's no doubt the WAFLW competition is improving in quality year by year, yet I believe we've got a well-connected group who can match it with any team, on any day.

“Provided we continue to set high expectations and strive for them we've put no limit on where we go from here.”