2020 West Coast Eagles women's season

West Coast Eagles

2020 season
West Coast Eagles warming up before a pre-season match against Richmond
Coach	Luke Dwyer (1st season)
Captain(s)	Emma Swanson (1st season)
Home ground	Mineral Resources Park Leederville Oval Optus Stadium
AFLW season	7th (Conference B)
Best and Fairest	Dana Hooker
Leading goalkicker	Hayley Bullas (2)
Highest home attendance	35,185 vs. Fremantle (Round 2)
Lowest home attendance	0 vs. Gold Coast (Round 6)
Club membership	3,318
2021  →

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia. The 2020 AFL Women's season was their first year in that competition. Luke Dwyer was the team's inaugural coach, and Emma Swanson was the team's inaugural captain. West Coast finished the home-and-away season seventh out of seven on the ladder, with a win–loss record of 1–5.

Dana Hooker was the team's best and fairest player, winning the West Coast Club Champion medal. Hayley Bullas was the team's leading goalkicker, with two goals.

Background

Emma Swanson captained West Coast in 2020.

The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football team based in Perth, Western Australia. Having competed in the men's Australian Football League since 1987, 2020 was their first year in the AFL Women's competition.

Luke Dwyer was announced as the inaugural West Coast Eagles AFLW coach in December 2018. He was already a development coach for the Eagles' men's team. ^[1]

In December 2019, it was announced that Emma Swanson would be the team's inaugural captain, having previously served as vice-captain at Greater Western Sydney. The vice-captain was Dana Hooker, and the rest of the leadership group consisted of Maddy Collier, Courtney Guard and Alicia Janz. ^[2]

West Coast had 3,318 members in 2020, the most of any AFLW club. ^[3]

Impact of COVID-19

Main article: 2020 AFL Women's season

On 11 March 2020, COVID-19 was formally declared a pandemic. This was on the Wednesday prior to round 6. As a result, West Coast's round 6 match did not have any spectators, and their rounds 7 and 8 matches against Carlton and St Kilda were cancelled. Due to their ladder position at the end of round 6, West Coast did not proceed to the finals series. ^[4]

Playing list

Statistics

Playing list and statistics ^[5]

Player	No.	Games	Goals	Behinds	Kicks	Handballs	Disposals	Marks	Tackles	Notes/Milestone(s)
Mikayla Bowen	1	6	1	1	34	28	62	5	31	AFLW debut (round 1) [6]
Kellie Gibson	2	6	0	2	34	7	41	11	15
Brianna Green	3	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Courtney Guard	4	6	0	0	34	14	48	8	14
McKenzie Dowrick	5	5	1	0	18	9	27	5	13
Emily Bonser	6	3	0	0	7	8	15	3	2	AFLW debut (round 3) [7]
Beatrice Devlyn	7	6	0	0	21	8	29	6	9
Maddy Collier	8	5	1	0	22	9	31	4	18
Ashlee Atkins	9	6	1	1	40	14	54	8	19
Melissa Caulfield	10	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Danika Pisconeri	11	3	0	1	10	6	16	4	7	AFLW debut (round 1) [8]
Niamh Kelly	12	6	0	3	34	24	58	9	14	Rookie, AFLW debut (round 1) [9]
Emma Swanson	13	6	1	3	79	23	102	13	27
Belinda Smith	14	6	0	0	43	23	66	10	17
Grace Kelly	15	6	1	2	20	12	32	8	5	Rookie, AFLW debut (round 1) [10]
Ashton Hill	16	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	AFLW debut (round 1) [11]
Dana Hooker	17	6	1	0	85	33	118	16	41
Imahra Cameron	19	6	1	4	58	25	83	15	21	AFLW debut (round 1) [12]
Kate Bartlett	20	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Mhicca Carter	21	1	0	0	2	4	6	1	0	Rookie, AFW debut (round 6) [13]
Tarnee Tester	23	4	1	0	10	8	18	5	5	AFLW debut (round 1) [14]
Hayley Bullas	24	6	2	0	35	15	50	5	24	AFLW debut (round 1) [15]
Parris Laurie	25	6	0	1	20	34	54	12	16
Talia Radan	26	6	0	0	16	13	29	3	10
Chantella Perera	27	5	0	0	22	13	35	9	15	AFLW debut (round 1) [16]
Emily McGuire	31	3	0	0	5	4	9	3	7
Kate Orme	32	3	0	0	11	3	14	2	2	AFLW debut (round 2) [17]
Cassie Davidson	33	3	0	0	8	9	17	3	9
Sophie McDonald	35	5	0	0	26	6	32	5	11	AFLW debut (round 1) [18]
Alicia Janz	37	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Rosie Deegan		0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Season summary

West Coast were in Conference B for the 2020 AFLW season.

Results

Regular season results ^[5]

Round	Date	Result	Score			Opponent	Score			Ground		Attendance	Ladder
			G	B	T		G	B	T
1	9 February	Lost	1	5	11	Collingwood	5	8	38	Victoria Park	A	6,100	7rd
2	15 February	Lost	2	3	15	Fremantle	9	6	60	Optus Stadium	H	35,185	7rd
3	23 February	Lost	2	2	14	Greater Western Sydney	6	6	42	Blacktown ISP Oval	A	1,980	7rd
4	29 February	Won	4	6	30	Western Bulldogs	3	8	26	Leederville Oval	H	2,455	7rd
5	8 March	Lost	1	1	7	Melbourne	10	6	66	Casey Fields	A	1,800	7rd
6	15 March	Lost	1	2	8	Gold Coast	5	3	33	Mineral Resources Park	H	0	7rd
7	21 March	Cancelled				Carlton				Ikon Park	A	0	N/A
8	29 March	Cancelled				St Kilda				Mineral Resources Park	H	0	N/A

Key

H	Home game
A	Away game

Ladder

Conference B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Fremantle	6	6	0	0	277	179	154.7	24	Finals series
2	Carlton	6	5	1	0	249	164	151.8	20
3	Melbourne	6	4	2	0	204	124	164.5	16
4	Collingwood	6	4	2	0	229	149	153.7	16
5	St Kilda	6	2	4	0	154	170	90.6	8
6	Western Bulldogs	6	1	5	0	179	246	72.8	4
7	West Coast	6	1	5	0	77	232	33.2	4

Source: womens.afl
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.

Awards

Dana Hooker won West Coast's inaugural Club Champion award

West Coast held its inaugural AFLW awards night at Mineral Resources Park on 11 August 2020. Vice-captain Dana Hooker won the Club Champion award with 26 votes. The runners-up were Emma Swanson, with 25 votes, and Ashlee Atkins and Parris Laurie with 23 votes. Imahra Cameron was the Best First Year Player, and Alicia Janz was the Best Club Person. ^[19]

Dana Hooker was West Coast's only player in the 40-woman initial All-Australian squad. She did not get selected for the All-Australian team. ^{[20] [21]}

Awards received by West Coast players

Award	Awarded by	Player	Result	Ref.
All-Australian team	AFL Women's	Dana Hooker	Shortlisted	[20]
Club Champion	West Coast Eagles	Dana Hooker	Won	[19]
Best First Year Player		Imahra Cameron	Won
Best Club Person		Alicia Janz	Won

See also

• 2020 West Coast Eagles season

References

1. Black, Sarah. "AFLW: Eagles development coach to lead new team". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
2. Woodcock, Mitchell. "Midfielder Emma Swanson appointed inaugural captain of West Coast Eagles AFLW team". Perth Now. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
3. "Expansion clubs lead the way as AFLW smashes membership record". AFLW. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
4. "Coronavirus crisis and footy: The state of play". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
5. "2020 Player Stats – West Coast Eagles WFC". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
6. "Mikayla Bowen". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
7. "Emily Bonser". AustraliaFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
8. "Danika Pisconeri". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
9. "Niamh Kelly". AustraliaFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
10. "Grace Kelly". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
11. "Ashton Hill". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
12. "Imahra Cameron". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
13. "Mhicca Carter". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
14. "Tarnee Tester". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
15. "Hayley Bullas". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
16. "Chantella Perera". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
17. "Kate Orme". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
18. "Sophie McDonald". AustralianFootball.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
19. Dickinson, Rhys. "AFLW: Hooker claims inaugural Club Champion Award". West Coast Eagles. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
20. "AFLW statement: 2020 AFLW All-Australian Squad". AFLW. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
21. McGowan, Marc. "AFLW All-Australian team revealed, new wave dominates". AFLW. Retrieved 1 October 2020.