Firstly, Michael how do you reflect on the team’s season?

It was a season of growth. You can easily look at our season and see that we had two wins and think we haven’t progressed that far but we’ve seen a lot of growth in a lot of our younger players. We’ve had more even contribution throughout the games from a number of players and we got games into a lot of our younger girls which we needed to do given our list turnover. So there are some positives that came out of the season but obviously we would of liked to finish a little bit better than what we did.

The club opted to go in a different direction at the end of last season and undertook a significant list turnover that saw 15 new players arrive and new coaches join as well. What impact did that amount of change have on the program?

It had a really big impact. Firstly, I think it was a courageous decision from the club to go down that path and we’ve become the youngest team in the competition by doing that. To have 15 new players come into a squad of 30 is huge for any team throughout the competition’s history. It was something we needed to do. We've got a really good core group of young girls that’ll come through together over the next four-to-five years but importantly for us this year it was about getting games into those girls, teaching them how to be an AFLW player and lift standards and I thought we were able to do that, so it does look good for us moving forward.

During the pre-season a lot was spoken about the lift in standards amongst the playing group. How significant was that focus on professionalism, not just for season seven but the years ahead as well?

It was really important for us. We looked at our season beforehand and there was a number of areas we needed to improve on and our standards and professionalism was one of those. We really made an effort to improve that. We went to a Wednesday training session during the day which we were the first club in AFLW to do so. We thought the timing was right and with those 15 new girls coming in with majority of them being really young players – that’s what they know now, that’s the standard when they walk into the club and they’ll carry those standards and improve those standards over the coming years. It was an important time to get that done.

Thirteen club debutants this season was a sign of the list turnover and investment in the future. West Coast was the youngest list in the AFLW but very competitive in most games - that must be exciting for seasons to come?

It is exciting. Every game we played we were younger than our opposition and that is just the nature of where we are at. To get games into those players was really important, we think we did a reasonable job in playing most of the girls but for them to come in and have impact and stay in games was really exciting – against some pretty quality teams that finished in the top eight. We fell away from that last game obviously, but we like what we saw and there only going to get better with games under their belt, so we look forward to the next couple of years and seeing what they can deliver for us.

Three Rising Star nominees were standouts - how impressed were you by Ella Roberts, Sarah Lakay and Charlie Thomas’ seasons?

Sarah in the ruck really started to dominate with her hit outs which is really important for us to try and get field position. She grew and she was fitter than she was last season and she’s committed to getting fitter again which is really exciting because she’s got a really bright future in the game. We threw Charlie around a little bit - played her down back, player her on the wing, try to fill a few holes with her. But this year we kept her in the half-back position and she really grew her game and she added another dimension to us coming out of the back half with our kick-ins because she uses the ball really well and I think her nomination was really valid. Ella Roberts as a first-year player played all 10  games for us and really showed she is going to be a class player. The thing I like about Ella is she’s not satisfied with where she is at and she shouldn’t be. She wants to improve and get better and I think her nomination was obviously warranted and who knows where that’s going to take her in the next couple of weeks.

What does the future hold for Ella? Could she move into the midfield in years ahead?

She could easily play midfield. She played a little bit of midfield time for us at stages this year, we’ve just got to decide where we are going to get the best bang for buck out of her and we need to get the ball into our forward half more than what we have over the last couple of seasons to give our forwards opportunities and Ella is one of them. We’d love to have two of her, put one in the midfield and one forward. We’ve got some pretty handy midfielders but it’s not out of the question that she can move up into that role moving forward.

Bella Lewis hasn’t turned 20 yet but is a young leader amongst the group. She had a really strong campaign in midfield.

Bella set herself up for a good season before we started pre-season. She walked in the door day one of pre-season extremely fit, hungry, determined to improve and to get better. Going into her third year it really showed she’s driven to succeed and she was winning time trials and setting the pace on the training track and that’s why she had such a consistent year. The other part about Bella I really liked this year was the fact she stepped up into our emerging leaders group and she came into our leadership meetings and she wasn’t just there to make up numbers, she really had a voice and had a say and was driving things with the group outside of those meetings which is really important. We need those young leaders to come through and Bella isn’t even 20 yet and is showing an appetite for that and her on field performance is going on an upward trend as well, which is great. 

Star captain Emma Swanson was outstanding again after winning the Club Champion award last season. How crucial is her on-field impact but also her leadership for the young group?

I can’t speak highly enough of Swanny. I’ve been involved in footy a long time and have come across some outstanding leaders in a lot of programs before and I’d put Swanny right up there in terms of what she delivers to the group and for the club. Her on field performance is second to none. She won our best and fairest last season and she’ll be at the pointy end again this time round. Her leadership and the way she goes about it really sets the tone for our younger girls and we talked about standards and expectations – she’s right up there. She’s one of the only players on our list that works full-time and she manages it really well. Her professionalism is outstanding and is something our younger players really look to and they want to learn off her.

Key defender Sophie McDonald could also be in contention for All-Australian selection and the 22-under-22. Her development was a real highlight?

I think Soph is a lock for the 22-under-22, I hope. Then All-Australian she’s got to be in the conversation and I think that’s important to look at the role that Soph played throughout the year, playing on some of the best key forwards in the game and really doing her job on them. I don’t think you can sit there and look at stats because a defender’s job is to obviously defend first and stop their opponent and then help us on offence going to other way and what Soph’s done this year and how she’s grown in a year - she used to have a few little lapses in games, but they were gone this year. Coming from a pre-season where she was slightly underdone, what she’s been able to do has been outstanding and we look forward to her growing even more next year in her role but it was an outstanding year by Soph.

A number of other developing players stood up and showed they can play at AFLW level, while there were more strong performances from senior players as well – who else impressed you?

There was a couple that impressed me. Courtney Rowley started playing inside (midfield) for us during practice matches early in the season and really showed the thirst for tackling and the competitive side of the game - for such a small girl it was really impressive. Then we put her out to the wing where she understands our structures, she gets the job done for us out there. Her output this season was about double from last season, she played all 10 games this season where last year she played five and the amount of possessions she’s getting in games was double than what she did last season, so her growth has been really good to watch. Then the other one is Mikayla Western, coming in she played one game for Freo last year as a top up player she came into our group and added a bit of speed and excitement to us. Player her on the wing early and then pushed her forward to get forward pressure and she delivered that in spades. Obviously, she broke her arm but she broke it doing what we expect of her, laying tackles and putting pressure on in our front half. I think those two have really grown in 10 games of footy.

It’s a long break we are going into now before next season - not something you’ve had for a while - what was the main message to the players before they started their off-season break?

The main message and what I said to the group after our last game is go and have a really good break because the girls have played more footy than they ever had in a year. They played two seasons in one year and even girls coming into our program from the WAFLW season, it’s been a big year for them. So the message was go and have a really good break, you’ve earned it and you deserve it but then we crank up in May/June next year and the expectation for the players is when they walk through the door they are extremely fit. We’ve increased standards and professionalism and the way they came in last year was outstanding so if we can increase that by five or 10 percent it puts us in really good shape to hit the ground running come pre-season and then into our 2023 season.

The list continues to evolve and develop naturally, but what are some areas of the squad that the club will look to strengthen during the upcoming draft and Sign and Trade Period? 

We always looked to strength our team and we are going through a process at the moment with our List Management Committee about where we need to improve, what sort of players we need to try and get into the club. That’s an ongoing process, we’ve got a bit of time up our sleeves so we will be working on that in the upcoming weeks and months to make sure we get that right.