Fremantle have wrapped up their AFLW sign and trade period with the signing of a further 11 players for the 2021 AFLW season.
Evie Gooch, Alex Williams, Leah Mascall, Katie Jayne Grieve, Laura Pugh, Janelle Cuthbertson, Jasmin Stewart, Emma O’Driscoll, Bianca Webb, Ann McMahon and Aine Tighe have all inked contracts for the 2021 season.
Earlier in the period, Fremantle re-signed Hayley Miller, Roxy Roux and Mim Strom, added midfielder Jess Trend in a trade with North Melbourne and traded Tayla Bresland to West Coast.
With Fremantle needing to make room for three selections in the 2020 NAB AFLW draft, they were required to delist three players, with Mia-Rae Clifford, Sarah Garstone and Lindal Rohde not offered contracts for 2021.
Forward Kate Flood will not return to Fremantle for the 2021 season due to personal reasons, however Fremantle are working with the AFL to investigate options to re-list Flood for future seasons.
Senior manager of football operations Joe Brierty said Fremantle were pleased to lock in the bulk of their list from their 2020 season.
“We’re really pleased with how the sign and trade period eventuated. It’s fantastic to see all the players that we wanted to sign commit to the club moving forward,” Brierty said.
“It’s a credit to the hard work of our AFLW program, led by AFLW manager Darryn Fry and senior coach Trent Cooper, that our players are really passionate about the direction that this AFLW team is going.
“Following the success of 2020, our players are committed to getting sustained success and we’re looking forward to the pre-season commencing in November.”
Brierty said Fremantle were in a position to build from their successful 2020 campaign.
“We feel like we’ve got a really balanced list with a mix of exciting young talent and experienced players, led by our captain Kara Antonio and our leadership group,” Brierty said.
“With the inclusion of Jess Trend, we feel she provides us with a lot of flexibility and can play a number of roles and will be a great fit within our AFLW family.
“Unfortunately, Irish recruit Kate Flood will not be returning to the AFLW for the 2021 season due to personal reasons. The club will work closely with the AFL to investigate what options there may be for Kate to return to the club in the future.
“We will continue to support Kate and she will stay connected with the club during this time."
Senior coach Trent Cooper said it was tough to see Clifford, Garstone and Rohde leave the club.
“We had the difficult decision to make with list management, as we could only go in with 27 players to make spaces available for the draft’ Cooper said.
“It meant we had some difficult decisions that had to be made and, unfortunately, we have be delisted Mia-Rae, Sarah and Lindal.
“It’s just a part of the difficult decision making process that we had to go through, so we thank all three for their service, because they were all a big part of our undefeated 2020 campaign.”
