Fremantle held their inaugural Female 14’s/15’s Next Generation Academy carnival on Monday 4 July at the Cockburn ARC, featuring young female footballers from five different WAFLW zones.
 
Peel, South Fremantle, East Fremantle, West Perth and Claremont were among the teams that participated on the day, with Peel and South Fremantle having strong representation to allow four full teams to be fielded, playing six games across three 30-minute rounds.
 
Over 120 young females participated in the program taking part in weekly training sessions in the lead up to the carnival.
 
Each team on the day was assigned a coach from Fremantle’s AFL Women’s team including Mim Strom, Gabby O’Sullivan, Ange Stannett, Jessica Low, Dana East and Mikayla Hyde.
 
In celebration of NAIDOC week, a best on ground player was nominated from each team and presented with one of Fremantle’s AFLW Indigenous jumpers at the end of the day.
 
Coaching the East Fremantle/Peel hybrid team, Fremantle forward Gabby O’Sullivan said she enjoyed the day and seeing the girls come together.

“The girls have been training over a span of a couple of weeks from each different district and they’ve come together today to play in their respective teams against one another,” O’Sullivan said.
 
“I got given the East Fremantle and Peel hybrid team, it was good fun, and it was good to see the girls put into practice what they’ve been doing over the past few weeks.
 
“Mim had the winning team and she let everyone know about it as well. We had Mim, Ange, Dana, Jess and Mikayla coaching across the other teams and it did get very competitive, pride was on the line. 
 
“Mim thoroughly deserved the win today.”

O’Sullivan spoke further on the importance of having a pathway for these young females to develop, something she wasn’t able to have access to herself growing up.
 
“It’s very important for the girls to have somewhere to play and develop and learn off the other coaches and AFLW players. It’s something that we weren’t as fortunate to have as kids so to help them reach the next level is super important,” O’Sullivan said.
 
“I’m a good 10 or so years older than them, so there was really nothing back when I was the same age, but now there is a true pathway from Auskick to juniors, our Next Generation Academy, WAFLW and then into the AFLW so that true pathway is there and hopefully it keeps more girls in the game.”
 
“I think we’re still seeing improvement now in the competition with girls like Tara Stribley who we’ve just drafted, they’re such pure footballers because they’ve been able to play as a young kid all the way through to their senior footy. 
 
“The development of these girls is pretty clear, and something we should all watch out for a few years.”

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