Fremantle have added versatile small forward Mikayla Hyde to their list after the 19-year-old impressed in a scratch match against West Coast last Saturday.

A knee injury to defender Leah Mascall opened the door for the Swan Districts product to join Freo after the club moved Mascall to the inactive list.

Senior coach Trent Cooper said Hyde had worked hard on improving her game after missing out in last year’s NAB AFL Women’s National Draft and was among Freo’s best in the scratch match.

“Mikayla’s a very crafty small forward. As a 16-year-old she finished second in the goal-kicking across all states against the 18 year olds at the state championships when playing for WA , she did really well in that role,” Cooper said.

“She’s developed an engine now, she’s a really good runner and can play up on the wing as well. In the scratch match, she played a bit of wing and forward and she can fill both spots for us.

“She was actually in our best eight players. She was right up there in her possession count and used the ball really well.

“It was great to see her step up to that level and be able to show that she’s improved in a couple of areas that she’s been working on over the past couple of seasons.”

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Hyde, who was one of five extra train-on players at Fremantle this pre-season, said she was floored when she was offered an AFLW contract.

“We went through a review of the game last week and we finished talking and Trent said that he wanted to offer me a contract for 2021 and I was really taken aback,” Hyde said.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it. I was so surprised. I didn’t know what to say when Trent offered me the contract out of the blue.”

While Hyde hasn’t had the opportunity to train with her new teammates for the majority of the pre-season, she hopes her footy smarts can help her adapt to the AFLW quickly.

“I watched a lot of footy growing up, so I think I have a bit of footy smarts and my IQ is probably one of my strongest traits. I’m pretty small so I like to cover the ground and I like to think I have a bit of speed,” Hyde said.

“I really enjoyed the scratch match. It was honestly good fun and the standard and the fitness was so high. You get the ball kicked to you spot on where you need it and the communication is at a next level standard.”