Michelle Cowan says establishing the playing list of Fremantle’s women’s team ahead of the inaugural season of the national women’s league was her priority.

“We’ve got a fair bit of work to do, there’s a lot of teams that are probably trying to pick up our WA talent and we want to make sure they stay here in WA,” Cowan said.

The newly appointed coach of the women's team said her connections in football could give the club some leverage in recruiting the top players, with several players having expressed an interest in joining the club.

Each club will have a 25-player list, which includes two marquee and five pre-signed players, with the rest of the list drawn from a state-based draft.

Players will nominate for the WA, Victoria or NSW draft, and will be eligible for the clubs in those regions, with players from Canberra and Tasmania aligning with NSW, and Northern Territory players eligible for the South Australian team.

Cowan said Fremantle wanted to spread the net wide, and will look to recruit players from outside the AFL community.

“We want to have a talent ID day here at Fremantle Oval, open it up to girls playing maybe State league basketball or netball, give them a taste of it and make sure we get the right team,” she said.

Cowan confirmed as coach of Fremantle's national women's league team

Cowan said the focus was on WA talent, and through a talent identification process, Fremantle would look to attract players from across the state.

Cowan has been in a coaching role at Melbourne since 2013, and said a role within the men’s team had been discussed, but she was focussed on the job at hand.

“I’m excited to lead this team, and get the right people around me that can help support me and ensure we have success going forward,” Cowan said.

Cowan met Fremantle coach Ross Lyon and football operations manager Chris Bond last week, and was looking forward to working alongside the senior coaching staff.

“Ross is fully supportive of the women’s team, and we are one club, so really looking forward to having their support and using Ross as a bit of guidance for me as well,” she said.

“I found him really approachable from our meeting last week, and feel really comfortable to ask him any questions.”

The national women’s competition kicks off in 2017.