# 2022 West Coast Eagles women's season

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia. 2022 AFL Women's season 6, which started in January 2021, is their third season in the competition. At the end of the 2021 season, West Coast delisted 10 players, gained a player via trade, a player via restricted free agency and five players at the 2021 AFL Women's draft. 2021 coach Daniel Pratt was replaced with Michael Prior, after Pratt resigned from the role.

## Background

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia, that competes in the AFL Women's (AFLW). In the 2021 AFL Women's season, they finished the season with two wins and seven losses, placing them 12th on the ladder out of 14 teams, and thus missing out on playing in the 2021 finals series.
In September 2021, it was announced that Michael Prior would take over as head coach from Daniel Pratt, as Pratt's partner was scheduled to give birth early 2022, and they didn't want him to do any quarantine that could occur in the AFLW.
Emma Swanson was captain for a third season, and Dana Hooker was vice-captain for a third season. Parris Laurie was part of the leadership group for a second season, joined by Aisling McCarthy, who joined the leadership group for the first time. These positions were decided by a vote between the players.

## Playing list
### Changes

During the off-season, Mhicca Carter, Beatrice Devlyn, McKenzie Dowrick, Brianna Green, Alicia Janz, Demi Liddle, Julie-Anne Norrish, Kate Orme, Chantella Perera and Katelyn Pope were delisted.
In May 2021, the AFL commission approved giving five AFLW clubs, including West Coast, various assistance measures to help strengthen their playing list. West Coast received priority draft picks in the second and third rounds of the 2021 draft, directly after the fifth selection in those rounds. The priority picks were given under the condition that West Coast's first five draft picks were not traded to another club. During the 2021 trade period, West Coast made one trade, with Fremantle. The Eagles received Fremantle player Evangeline Gooch in exchange for draft pick 38. West Coast also signed Aimee Schmidt as a restricted free agent, having grown up in Western Australia before playing for Greater Western Sydney for five years.
In the 2021 AFL Women's draft, teams were only allowed to pick from a pool of players in their state. West Coast held the first three out of four draft picks in Western Australia, with Fremantle holding the second in the state. West Coast ended up drafting Charlie Thomas (pick 3), Courtney Rowley (pick 21), Beth Schilling (pick 24), Sarah Lakay (pick 40) and Emily Bennett (pick 47).
Removals from playing list :
| Player | Reason | Games played |
| Mhicca Carter | Delisted | 1 |
| Beatrice Devlyn | Delisted | 8 (6 at West Coast) |
| McKenzie Dowrick | Delisted | 12 (5 for West Coast) |
| Brianna Green | Delisted | 7 (4 for West Coast) |
| Alicia Janz | Delisted | 20 (6 for West Coast) |
| Demi Liddle | Delisted | 4 |
| Julie-Anne Norrish | Delisted | 0 |
| Kate Orme | Delisted | 7 |
| Chantella Perera | Delisted | 13 |
| Katelyn Pope | Delisted | 6 |
Additions to playing list :
| Player | Acquired | Former club | Former league |
| Evangeline Gooch | Trade | Fremantle | AFL Women's |
| Aimee Schmidt | Restricted free agent | Greater Western Sydney | AFL Women's |
| Charlie Thomas | No. 3, 2021 draft | Subiaco | WAFL Women's |
| Courtney Rowley | No. 21, 2021 draft | Peel Thunder | WAFL Women's |
| Beth Schilling | No. 24, 2021 draft | Peel Thunder | WAFL Women's |
| Sarah Lakay | No. 40, 2021 draft | Swan Districts | WAFL Women's |
| Emily Bennett | No. 47, 2021 draft | Claremont | WAFL Women's |

### Statistics

Playing list and statistics :
| Player | No. | Games | Goals | Behinds | Kicks | Handballs | Disposals | Marks | Tackles | Notes/Milestone(s) |
| Mikayla Bowen | 1 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 83 | 43 | 126 | 24 | 58 | |
| Kellie Gibson | 2 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 45 | 12 | 57 | 16 | 24 | |
| Charlie Thomas | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 29 | 93 | 19 | 23 | AFLW debut (round 1) |
| Courtney Guard | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 12 | 30 | 7 | 5 | |
| Courtney Rowley | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 9 | 6 | AFLW debut (round 3) |
| Isabella Lewis | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 65 | 58 | 123 | 14 | 42 | |
| Aimee Schmidt | 7 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 47 | 22 | 69 | 17 | 9 | West Coast debut (round 1) |
| Maddy Collier | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 10 | 51 | 8 | 28 | |
| Ashlee Atkins | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 18 | 50 | 10 | 26 | |
| Melissa Caulfield | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 8 | 31 | 8 | 13 | |
| Aisling McCarthy | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 41 | 5 | 10 | |
| Niamh Kelly | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 73 | 20 | 93 | 18 | 14 | |
| Emma Swanson | 13 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 117 | 83 | 200 | 37 | 42 | |
| Belinda Smith | 14 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 34 | 112 | 37 | 18 | |
| Grace Kelly | 15 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 13 | 57 | 14 | 12 | |
| Ashton Hill | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 11 | 53 | 21 | 11 | |
| Dana Hooker | 17 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 99 | 47 | 146 | 18 | 30 | |
| Imahra Cameron | 19 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 8 | 27 | 9 | 13 | |
| Tayla Bresland | 20 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 7 | |
| Andrea Gilmore | 22 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 11 | 31 | 11 | 15 | |
| Sarah Lakay | 23 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 6 | 19 | AFLW debut (round 3) |
| Hayley Bullas | 24 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 25 | 74 | 10 | 26 | |
| Parris Laurie | 25 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 46 | 86 | 26 | 19 | |
| Lauren Gauci | 26 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | |
| Emily Bennett | 27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 9 | |
| Shanae Davison | 28 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 18 | 5 | 5 | |
| Beth Schilling | 30 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 6 | 6 | |
| Evangeline Gooch | 31 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 85 | 16 | 101 | 14 | 14 | West Coast debut (round 1) |
| Amber Ward | 33 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 9 | 37 | 3 | 7 | |
| Sophie McDonald | 35 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 7 | 39 | 12 | 10 | |

## Season summary

2022 AFL Women's season 6 started in January 2022, ended in April 2022, and had 10 rounds.

### Results

Regular season results :
| Round | Date | Result | Score | Score | Score | Opponent | Score | Score | Score | Ground | Ground | Attendance | Ladder |
| Round | Date | Result | G | B | T | Opponent | G | B | T | Ground | Ground | Attendance | Ladder |
| 1 | 8 January | Lost | 2 | 3 | 15 | Fremantle | 6 | 7 | 43 | Fremantle Oval | A | 5,533 | 13th |
| 2 | 16 January | Lost | 5 | 3 | 33 | Gold Coast | 7 | 4 | 46 | Whitten Oval | H | 587 | 11th |
| 3 | 22 January | Lost | 1 | 3 | 9 | Adelaide | 6 | 6 | 42 | Punt Road Oval | H | 323 | 12th |
| 4 | 29 January | Cancelled | | | | St Kilda | | | | Trevor Barker Oval | A | | 13th |
| 5 | 4 February | Lost | 3 | 6 | 24 | Geelong | 4 | 3 | 27 | GMHBA Stadium | A | 1,938 | |
| 5 | 8 February | Won | 2 | 10 | 22 | St Kilda | 2 | 8 | 20 | Trevor Barker Oval | A | 665 | 12th |
| 6 | 12 February | Lost | 3 | 4 | 22 | Collingwood | 7 | 4 | 46 | Mineral Resources Park | A | 1,295 | 12th |
| 7 | 19 February | Lost | 7 | 3 | 45 | Richmond | 10 | 8 | 68 | Mineral Resources Park | H | 878 | 13th |
| 8 | 26 February | Lost | 4 | 0 | 24 | Brisbane | 15 | 8 | 98 | Mineral Resources Park | H | 730 | 14th |
| 9 | 5 March | Lost | 1 | 2 | 8 | Western Bulldogs | 10 | 8 | 68 | Optus Stadium | H | 3,164 | 14th |
| 10 | 12 March | Lost | 3 | 2 | 20 | North Melbourne | 15 | 8 | 98 | Arden Street Oval | A | 1,032 | 14th |
Key :
| H | Home game |
| A | Away game |

### Ladder

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Adelaide (P) | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 405 | 187 | 216.6 | 36 | Finals series |
| 2 | Melbourne | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 470 | 252 | 186.5 | 36 | Finals series |
| 3 | Brisbane | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 496 | 252 | 196.8 | 32 | Finals series |
| 4 | North Melbourne | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 346 | 249 | 139.0 | 28 | Finals series |
| 5 | Fremantle | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 383 | 284 | 134.9 | 28 | Finals series |
| 6 | Collingwood | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 340 | 276 | 123.2 | 24 | Finals series |
| 7 | Western Bulldogs | 10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 354 | 372 | 95.2 | 18 | |
| 8 | Carlton | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 304 | 362 | 84.0 | 16 | |
| 9 | Greater Western Sydney | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 303 | 409 | 74.1 | 16 | |
| 10 | Gold Coast | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 294 | 431 | 68.2 | 14 | |
| 11 | Richmond | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 344 | 423 | 81.3 | 12 | |
| 12 | Geelong | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 242 | 301 | 80.4 | 8 | |
| 13 | St Kilda | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 213 | 401 | 53.1 | 8 | |
| 14 | West Coast | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 222 | 517 | 42.9 | 4 | |