As a player you never go into a season expecting to perform poorly. Coming off a preliminary final last season, I had high hopes that our Fremantle team would take big steps towards our ultimate goal of premiership success.

Unfortunately, the universe had a different plan.

I’m not one for making excuses – our performance just wasn’t up to our usual standard, and as a result we missed the finals for the first time since 2018.

There was no excuse for letting Carlton back in the game after being three goals up just before three-quarter-time in our round four draw, and certainly no excuses for failing to score a goal against both Geelong and Collingwood in rounds two and eight respectively.

Most frustrating was how close we were to matching it with the very best in Melbourne and Adelaide in rounds six and seven. However, three quarters of good footy won’t win games against such high-quality opposition. The ladder isn’t decided on almost winning games.

Far too often we had the opportunity to break open games, but our skill execution was poor. When things weren’t going our way, we fell into old habits that worked in the early days of AFLW, but resorting to bombing the ball long is far too easily defended by good teams.

Our lack of scoring is the obvious area for improvement this off-season, with the connection between our mids and forwards being lost on countless occasions.

As you keep coming up short each week, it’s difficult as captain not to question yourself and your capabilities. At times I sought guidance from our revered former captain Kara Antonio, who had led us through similar situations in the first few years of AFLW. I’d basically ask Kara 'What on earth do I say now?'.

Hayley's other articles for womens.afl:
How I've made the captaincy role my own
Next-gen footballers a reminder of how far we've come
How the quirky Dockers are coping with hub life

Last season was hard with the uncertainties in the hub, but as a leader it was nowhere near as challenging as this season. I personally didn’t perform as well as I would have liked, but I tried everything to keep morale high as the losses mounted. I’m incredibly proud of the resilience the group showed to review each game and move forward with as much energy and excitement as the previous week, regardless of the result.

It’s easy to wallow in self-pity after a bad loss or consecutive losses, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do just that at times, but it’s almost impossible to be down for too long when we have beautiful distractions such as Kiara Bowers' son Nate being as happy as ever and sharing his lollies in the changerooms post-game, or Allegra and Peyton Cooper running around like it’s the best day of their lives. You have to remember there’s more to life than football, or it will consume you.

Fortunately, I have a strong support network and relationships with head coach Trent Cooper, vice-captain Ange Stannett and my leadership group, which allowed us all to lean on each other and share the emotional load.

I’m also grateful for the assistance of our leadership consultant Kellie Properjohn, as well as the increased wellbeing services we, as a group, pushed for after last season and ultimately achieved, ensuring the team and staff were well supported.

I continued to front the media each week but quickly ran out of things to say, including all the old footy cliches. Thankfully, the media was generally positive, but as the face of a team not performing it’s hard not to delve into the reality of what goes on inside our four walls while the season continues.

We had an injury list that became so extensive towards the end of the season that it was laughable, to the point we didn’t have enough players to field a team. To lose the experience of both Kara and Ebony Antonio during the pre-season was shattering, and injuries mounted from there, both in games and at training.

A positive to emerge from the carnage was that it created an unexpected opportunity for one of our train-on WAFLW players, Madizen Wilkins, which will no doubt light a spark for many players desperate for a chance.

Most of our recruits were players fairly new to the game, who in an ideal world would’ve had more time and opportunity to continue to develop. In a typical AFLW season, some may not have played at all, but these newcomers quickly turned into key players, lining up in every game and performing significant roles. The short pre-season also meant they weren’t afforded the usual length of time to settle into AFLW training and life.

Given it’s been five seasons since we’ve sat out the finals, planning our end to the season has been different, to say the least. It was bittersweet too, especially with our spiritual leader and incredibly loved teammate Kara Antonio returning for one last game before retiring. I’ve spoken at length about what Kara has done for me and what she means to our group, but no number of words will ever sum up just how much of an impact she has had on our football club and women’s football.

Although this season was a whirlwind experience for both new and experienced players, it has put us in a strong position for next season with our younger group gaining more valuable experience in a tough competition.

Each AFLW season is wildly different and teams can go from bottom to top and vice versa very quickly. Write us off at your peril.