Swans part of new era in WAFLW against Lions

SWAN Districts was part of history on Sunday hosting a game in the first round of the inaugural WAFL Women's Premiership Season and despite the loss to Subiaco, there was plenty of positives to take out of the day.

Swan Districts has been a powerhouse in West Australian female football for a long time and as a result were a lock to be one of the five teams included in the inaugural WAFLW season for 2019.

That saw Swans play host to Subiaco on Sunday afternoon at Steel Blue Oval to be part of history in the opening round of the new competition, with the Lions winning the game 7.5 (47) to 2.6 (18).

ROUND 1 PREVIEW V SUBIACO
DONNELLAN PUMPED TO COACH SWANS IN WAFLW

The WAFLW competition has been launched in 2019 as the start of a new era of female football in Western Australia following on from the success of the AFL Women's competition nationally and what the West Australian Women's Football League has been able to lay the foundations for.

This inaugural season in 2019 will feature five teams and the action got underway on Sunday afternoon with the two teams who played off in the league grand final of the WAWFL competition last year, East Fremantle and Subiaco, proving victorious.

Round 1 of the inaugural 2019 WAFLW season continued at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday afternoon with Subiaco holding Swan Districts to one goal for three quarters on their way to a 29-point victory.

With Swan Districts having been a perennial powerhouse throughout the WA Women's Football league season and Subiaco having been strong in 2018 reaching the Grand Final before losing to East Fremantle, it loomed as a terrific way to launch the new era in WA football at Bassendean.

A good crowd flocked to Steel Blue Oval for the occasion as well and they saw Subiaco start impressively with three goals to one in the opening quarter.

Swan Districts then managed just the one behind in the second term while the Lions added another three goals to head into half-time with a 32-point advantage.

Swans were then scoreless entirely in the third quarter with Subiaco managing just the one goal in a term that saw just the one scoring shot between the two teams.

The Black Ducks did manage to kick the only goal of the last quarter as well but that didn’t stop Subiaco ending up winning the game 7.5 (47) to 2.6 (18).

Tarnee Tester was the star in attack for Subiaco kicking three goals while Beatrice Devlyn booted two and Lauren Stammers and Sara Lewis added one apiece.

Devlyn, Claire Ortlepp, Lindal Rohde and Ellie Blackmore were all among the stars for the Lions in their win.

Swan Districts' goals came courtesy of Imahara Cameron and Shannon Matthews.

Among the standout performers for the Swans were Lauren Osborne, Cameron, Naomi Baker, Aimee Ralph and Jessica Cox.

The day's action at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday began with the Rogers Cup contest and that saw Subiaco's Youth Girls team beat Swan Districts 5.7 (37) to 2.4 (16).

Swan Districts goals were courtesy of Hope Parata-Kingi and Danielle Wright.

And then in the WAWFL Reserves contest at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday, Subiaco also prevailed 4.2 (26) to 2.5 (17) against Swan Districts.

WAFLW ROUND 1

SWAN DISTRICTS        1.1    1.2    1.2    2.6    (18)
SUBIACO            3.1    6.4    7.4    7.5    (47)

SWAN DISTRICTS – Goals: Cameron, Matthews.
Best: Osborne, Cameron, Baker, Ralph, Cox.
SUBIACO – Goals: Tester 3; Devlyn 2; Stammers, Lewis.
Best: Devlyn, Ortiepp, Rohde, Blackmore.