West Coast captain Emma Swanson is proud of the progress the Eagles have made since the end of season six, firmly believing the developing team is heading in the right direction
In consecutive weeks two Eagles youngsters have been nominated for the AFLW Rising Star award, outlining the rapid growth shown in the first six rounds of the competition.
Sarah Lakay was nominated for the Rising Star award after a dominant display against Fremantle when she won 42 hit outs, the second most in an AFLW match.
Talented forward Ella Roberts was also nominated this week after finishing with 15 disposals and six score involvements alongside her maiden goal in AFLW against Hawthorn
The Eagles have two wins this season so far and have suffered back-to-back agonising three-point defeats to Fremantle and Hawthorn, with Swanson disappointed but seeing the silver lining from competitive efforts.
“I couldn’t be surer that we are moving in the right direction,” Swanson said.
“We’ve got a young squad who are learning every single week and despite us going down the last two games they’ve both been by under a goal.
“It’s a bit bittersweet having these performances then to be only beaten by three considering this time last year we were going down to teams by 30.
“We are only a kick away from it, looking at the ladder we could be up in the eight if we took those opportunities.
“That’s our growth area and that’s something we will continue to work on, but I couldn’t be more certain we are heading in the right direction.”
Swanson believes there could be more Rising Star nominations on the way, suggesting defenders Courtney Rowley and Charlie Thomas should also be in the conversation for their performances this season.
“We’ve got more girls in our squad who deserve to be talked about as well, I think Courtney Rowley and Charlie have been outstanding,” Swanson said.
Coming into Friday night’s match against Richmond the Eagles skipper is pleased to be back at home playing under lights at Mineral Resources Park.
She also outlined the need to focus on Tigers midfielder Monique Conti, who she believes is one of the premier midfielders in the competition, and for West Coast to bring pressure to the contest.
“She (Conti) likes to give and go and has a basketball background so that speaks to her foot work around the stoppage,” she said.
“We need to put pressure on her and that is the basis of our game so if we do that we will play well.
“It’ll be a team job not letting her get second chances and taking her out around the stoppages.
“Pressure is the number one thing we need to focus on, when we do that it sets us up well for the rest of the game.
“It’s the one thing we did against the Giants a couple of weeks ago, we kept the pressure on, came forward to defend and off the back of that we stopped them moving the ball the way they wanted to.
For the first time in the club’s history the team will be wearing the newly unveiled Pride guernsey with midfielder Bella Lewis excited to have an on-field representation for the LGBTQI+ community.
“It means a lot to us, I think as a club we are constantly moving forward, evolving and educating each other around the awareness of the LGBTQI+ community,” Lewis said.
“It doesn’t just stem to the playing group but to the wider community including our supporters as well, we want to give them a safe space to come down and watch us.”
The Eagles will face the Tigers this Friday at Mineral Resources Park with bouncedown at 5:10pm AWST.
