Fremantle has confirmed their final team of 21 to take on Hawthorn on Thursday night, headlined by the return of midfielder Dana East.
East will play her first game since Round 3 against North Melbourne and has been named on the interchange bench.
The midfielder replaces Orlagh Lally in the line-up, who was ruled out for this week with foot soreness in the Club’s injury update released on Tuesday afternoon.
Matilda Banfield, Tunisha Kikoak, Gabby O'Sullivan, and Laura Pugh join East on the interchange bench.
Fremantle’s three emergencies for the clash are Phil Seth, Evie Parker and Jo Cregg.
Senior Coach Lisa Webb spoke to media on Wednesday morning, touching on how the group have bounced back from the loss to Carlton on Friday, and how they’ve spent their 10-day stint in Melbourne.
“We love getting away. It is hard coming off a loss, but there’s plenty of opportunities for us to improve, get together as a group and keep working, so we’ve done that really well,” Webb said.
“We just need to make sure we keep fine-tuning. We’ll continue to learn and grow.”
Fremantle will face an in-form Hawthorn, who are sitting third on the ladder with six wins and one loss.
“Every game has been important. Hawthorn are a great team, but one where we want to put forward our best football and I think we can do that,” Webb said.
“Once again, (it will be a) really good ruck battle, great inside mids, and they’ve got great form in front of the footy and behind, so we just need to keep getting better.
“We’ve got a younger forward line, and we’ll just keep working with those players to make sure they can capitalise and tweak up a few things.”
The last time Fremantle and Hawthorn faced each other was in Round 6 of the 2024 NAB AFLW Season, where the Hawks won 34 (5.4) to Fremantle’s 25 (3.7).
This will be Fremantle’s first time playing at Hawthorn’s home ground, Kinetic Stadium in Frankston, Victoria. Bouncedown on Thursday is at 7.15pm EST
The game will be broadcast live on 7mate and Fox Sports, and streamed live on Kayo, Binge and 7plus from 7pm EST.
