Fremantle’s Season 7 review has begun and Senior Coach Trent Cooper believes the squad has what it takes to rise again in 2023.
Fremantle ended the season on a high with a thrilling win over Hawthorn, but finishing 12th with three wins and a draw doesn’t sit well with one of the AFLW’s inaugural clubs.
“We played six of the top seven and we lost to all of those,” Cooper told Radio 6PR SportsDay.
“We didn’t lose to anyone outside of the eight, but we want to be challenging.”
Cooper says injuries played a big part in Fremantle’s seventh season in the competition and availability also affected the quality of pre-season training.
Some glaring problems on field also became evident once the season was underway.
“Half way through the season we reviewed what we were doing wrong and right and the big thing was our ball movement,” said Cooper.
“We were too one dimensional and we weren’t getting enough uncontested possessions.
“So we worked hard on that over the last four to five weeks and there were some really promising signs with that.
“I think that’ll be the major area where we need to improve next year if we’re going to challenge Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane”
After losing key forward Gemma Houghton to expansion club Port Adelaide, Fremantle relied on Aine Tighe in attack and the Irish recruit rose to the challenge kicking 11 goals for the season.
Cooper says switching young forward Amy Franklin to defence isn’t likely to be a permanent move and he’s confident Freo have the targets needed to hit the scoreboard in 2023 with the right midfield supply.
“Ebony Antonio played two games, Makaela Tuhakaraina – who is going to be a really good small forward - played two games, Mikayla Morrison kicked three in her last game – she didn’t play at all from the ACL,” Cooper said.
“We think we’ve got enough talent there. Amy Franklin has been playing back to help with her development, but we think she can develop into a good key forward.
“We’ve got the list there. We probably just need some better supply and better quality rather than just lots of inside 50s.”
Fremantle players are currently completing exit interviews ahead of a well earned break after back-to-back AFLW seasons in 2022.
The 2023 season is tipped to begin in August, and perhaps expand from a 10-round season.
“I imagine there’ll be an increase in games – I know the girls are eager to get it to 17 games, but I don’t think that will happen next year,” Cooper said.
“I think it will be somewhere in that 10 to 14 game range – hopefully a couple more than this year.
“When you’re away for that long you want to be playing as much football as possible.”
