Rising star Ella Roberts can see a bright AFLW future for West Coast and says she is relishing the challenge of performing at the elite level six games into her debut campaign.
Roberts has steadily improved each week and produced her best game yet by scoring her first goal last week against Hawthorn and picking up 15 disposals
The 17-year-old has embraced the challenges the AFLW competition brings and is focused on finishing the season strong.
“The start of my year has been good, I’ve been pretty lucky to be able to play every game so far,” Roberts said.
“I think the last couple of weeks I’ve started to feel more comfortable and deserving to play at AFLW level.”
Winning the Most Valuable Player Award at the Under-18s carnival, Roberts is also a two-time WA MVP and has had two premiership seasons with WAFL side Peel.
Weighing in on her first season of AFLW she recognised a significant shift in standard from the state level game, admitting it took a short time to adjust.
“In my first game I definitely realised the rise in standard the most,” she said.
“The physicality and the speed of the game is at a whole new level but I’ve definitely gotten used to it and I have loved the jump so far."
Finishing off her final year at school she was surprised with the ability she had to balance her studies with being a semi-professional athlete.
Being nominated for the Rising Star award for last round’s performance, she credited several factors in her development so far.
“The club and school have been really accommodating with each other and I’ve been able to attend every training session without missing too much school,” Roberts said.
“It’s actually been a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”
West Coast currently sits 12th on the AFLW ladder and is making clear progress from season six earlier in the year.
Roberts was a key addition in a significant list turnover which saw the Eagles start a key development chapter in the team’s short history.
“Obviously we’ve got the youngest team in the competition at the moment so I think in the next couple of years we can be successful,” Roberts said.
“We are still building. We’ve shown glimpses of our best footy this year but once we can start to put together four consistent quarters of footy, I think we will be pretty amazing.
“I’m really keen to see what this side can do.”
