Jorja Haines has been a Freo Docker from birth and she was one of 30 talented U16 females aligned to the club’s NGA zones to take part in Fremantle’s women’s academy in July and August.

The daughter of Daniel Haines, who played 16 games for Fremantle in 2002 and 2003, Jorja now has her sights set on following in her father’s footsteps.

Jorja has also trained with Fremantle’s Family Academy and has relished the chance to learn off Freo’s AFLW stars.

“I’m learning a lot of new skills training with the girls, seeing how they train getting to know how they play together. It’s been really good,” Jorja said.

“It’s been a lot different compared to club level. It’s a lot more intense. It’s interesting seeing how they communicate with each other.

“It’s a lot harder than I expected it to be, just the intensity. Even just at training, I feel like the training drills are a lot harder than some of the games I’ve played in.”

As a big Freo supporter, training at the club has been a dream for Jorja.

“I’ve grown up around a footy family and environment so I’ve always wanted to be like these girls,” Jorja said.

“Now I see this as a great opportunity for me to get to improve and learn lots of new things.”

Gracie Fenton, from Peel Thunder’s WAFLW team, is a fellow member of the academy and feels she’s improved markedly since training with the academy.

“Training with the AFLW girls makes it so much better, it’s just really good being around them and their talent,” Gracie said.

“I feel my skills have gotten so much better in the last couple of weeks and that’s come out in the games that I’m playing.

“Just attacking the footy and getting in there and amongst all the ground balls as well as I’ve been doing a lot of ground balls here, which has really helped.”