AFLW
AFLW hit-out sees Fremantle make an impact on Eagles early

Fremantle have signed versatile utility Tunisha Kikoak for the 2024 NAB AFLW Season as the replacement player for AFLW star Kiara Bowers, following Bowers’ pregnancy announcement last week.

Hailing from Tasmania, the 180cm tall nominated for the 2023 AFLW Draft last year, but unfortunately her name was not called out.

Kikoak has continued to improve and impress for the Tasmanian Devils in the Coates Talent League Girls, along with her performance in the Under 23’s Allstars team, which played in the AFLW National Academy in early April.

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Fremantle AFLW List Manager Darryn Fry said the Club is pleased to sign Kikoak after keeping a close eye on her after last year’s Draft.

“It was quite an emotional response from Tunisha, when speaking of her initial disappointment. There was a burn in the belly for her, after missing out in the AFLW Draft in 2023,” Fry said.

“She continued working hard and focused on areas where she felt she needed to improve.

“Upon Turbo’s announcement, we focused on Tunisha as a player of interest, and we watched her play a number of games during the early stages of the 2024 season.”

Fry said the soon to be 19-year-old will add height and depth to Fremantle’s AFLW side with her ability to play across three lines.

“Tunisha was outstanding against the AFLW Academy for the All-Stars team, and we also watched her play for the Tassie Devils over the past few weeks,” Fry said.

“Against the GWV Rebels a fortnight ago, Tunisha was dominant on field, playing in the ruck, with some strong aerial contests.

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Watch all the highlights from our newest Freo Docker, AFLW Replacement player Tunisha!

“Tunisha’s strong in the contest. 23 of those 26 possessions were contested, and her follow up at the ruck contest is something that also caught our eye, but we also feel she has attributes to be pretty versatile and play across all three lines.

“To bring in someone with height who has the athletic attributes that Tunisha has, we feel adds that depth to our list. 

“Clearly, we are not replacing like-for-like – we know how important 'Turbo' has been to our program, but an opportunity to bring another younger player onto our list, alongside Holly (Ifould) who we drafted, is really exciting.”

Kikoak will make the move to Perth and commence training with Fremantle in time for the official AFLW pre-season start date on Monday 3 June.

“We’re really excited to bring her across from Tassie in the next few weeks, so she can get to know her new teammates and get stuck into pre-season,” Fry said.