Fremantle’s preparations for Season 8 of the NAB AFL Women’s competition are underway with 26 players committed to the Club.

The next NAB AFL Women’s season is expected to commence on the weekend of the 25-27 August and pre-season will start in June.

Fremantle have locked in captain Hayley Miller, three time Fairest and Best winner Kiara Bowers and vice-captain Ange Stannett among the re-signings.

Ebony Antonio, Nikki Gore, Mikayla Hyde, Megan Kauffman, Jessica Low, Amy Mulholland, Emma O’Driscoll, Gabby O’Sullivan, Laura Pugh, Roxanne Roux, Airlie Runnalls, Madeleine Scanlon, Philipa Seth, Tara Stribley, Mim Strom, Makaela Tuhakaraina, Sarah Wielstra, Orlagh Lally, Dana East, Aine Tighe, Sarah Verrier and Mikayla Morrison are also committed for 2023.

Morrison will return from an ACL injury that she sustained at training in March 2022 and will be looking to capture the form she showed in her NAB AFLW Rising Star nomination and three-goal performance game against Carlton in Round 6 of season 6.

New recruit Serena Gibbs from Carlton and the selections from the upcoming Season 8 AFLW Supplementary Draft will round out Fremantle’s playing list of 30.

Senior AFLW Coach Lisa Webb is excited to get stuck in and said the emphasis was to continue to develop the current playing list.

“We’ve retained a vast majority of our team and we’re really eager to put a lot of time and effort into ensuring we develop our current list, as we’ve got some fantastic talent in our team,” Webb said.

“From a trade perspective, getting Serena adds flexibility in our key positions, but we’re also looking to explore any opportunities at the draft as there’s been some really good football played in the WAFLW.

“The level of talent is exciting, both from the younger and mature-aged players, and how much they’ve developed their football over the past few years.”

Webb believes Season 8 will provide opportunity for current players to take the next step in their career and said the playing list has a good spread of players.

“All lines are fairly even,” Webb said.

“There’s a lot of players that didn’t get the opportunity to showcase their talent last year, either through injury or opportunity, and with a couple of players leaving, there’s a great opportunity for players to come in and stamp their mark on the game.

“The exciting thing for me is I think there’s a lot of talent there to work with.