WA reaches double digits for AFLW debutants this season

We’ve hit double digits for WA debutants in the AFLW this season in just four rounds.

Former AAMI WA Football State 18s Girls co-captain Renee Morgan, State 18s MVP Carys D’Addario and late-season recruit Madison Evans are the latest West Aussies to get a taste of AFLW action.

Morgan was rewarded for her strong VFLW performance in last week’s win over Port Melbourne which included amassing 20 disposals in the opening half, while also adding five tackles and seven clearances.

The classy on-baller from South Fremantle was taken by Geelong with pick 43 in last year’s AFLW Draft following a strong year in the ATCO WAFLW and AFLW National Under-18s Championships.

She’s likely to feature alongside fellow WA talent, Peel Thunder’s Evie Cowcher, who’s performed strongly to start the AFLW season, for Sunday’s clash against Essendon at GMHBA Stadium.

D’Addario will debut for the Saints against powerhouse North Melbourne at RSEA Park, while South Fremantle gun Madi Evans will line up for Brisbane in their home clash against GWS on Saturday evening.

Evans was only picked up by the Lions in late July as a replacement player and will make her debut around six weeks later in a remarkable rise for the teenage intercept-marking defender.

The trio will take the number of WAFLW products to debut in the AFLW this season to 11, following in the footsteps of East Fremantle duo Noa McNaughton (Fremantle) and Maya Louvel-Finn (St Kilda), Subiaco pair Olivia Wolmarans (Richmond) and Olivia Crane (Port Adelaide), Perth’s Fina Dethlefsen (Richmond), South Fremantle’s Natasha Entwistle (West Coast), West Perth’s Mia Russo (West Coast) and Cowcher.

The list includes all three of WA’s co-captains from last year – Morgan, Russo and Crane.

Perth pair Isabella Shannon and Poppy Stockwell also debuted for their new AFLW debuts, West Coast and Hawthorn respectively, after getting a second chance in the competition as injury-replacement players after strong seasons in the WAFLW.