AFLW Round Wrap | Eliza Reilly, CODE Sports (05.10.2026)

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Mark Duffield (0:56)

Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium, Monday morning in Perth, and going to be a sunny one in our fair city.

Well, certainly a sunny day for the West Coast Eagles and their fans at Sullivan Logistics Stadium yesterday. A hard-fought win in an AFLW Derby. It was West Coast's first win over Fremantle, and they certainly did it in style. To talk about it, CODE Sports AFLW guru Eliza Reilly joins us. Eliza, welcome.

Eliza Reilly (1:26)

Morning Duff, and yes, they say that the little sister always grows up eventually, and after eight attempts, West Coast finally did that and grew about two foot in the last quarter, I reckon.

Mark Duffield (1:35)

Well, it's amazing how similar it is to what happened in reverse with the men's program, because obviously it took nine goes for Fremantle to break their duck, but obviously because there's two Derbies every year, only half as long. So it was certainly time, I think, and they did it in style. Ella Roberts showing the way again.

Eliza Reilly (1:58)

Yeah, she was obviously tagged quite heavily by Fremantle throughout the game, and Jess Lowe sort of had the direct match up for a lot of it, but it was almost a team tag as well. Like every time Ella got tackled, the fair players would run past and give her a shove and make sure she stayed on the ground for a little bit longer than she would have otherwise. But she worked through the attention and really exploded in the last quarter with a few really pivotal moments, burst out of the middle with what was described as a Will Ashcroft sort of center clearance to get the ball going the Eagles way. And I don't think they scored from it, but just sort of set the tone for that fourth quarter and then kicked the goal as well in the second half after sneaking forward. And also had a really terrific smother, which won't go down on the stat sheet, but she just set the tone. She worked through the intention and then exploded in the last quarter to be awarded her second Derby medal. Obviously, she's won one before in a losing side, which tells you a little bit about the color of big game play as she is, but was very deserving yesterday.

Mark Duffield (2:59)

Yeah, I actually thought it was a 50-50 throw of the coin in terms of which way I would have gone. I thought Charlotte Riggs was absolutely magnificent in the ruck on Mim Strom. Now, I know Mim Strom's numbers were very good and Mim Strom's third quarter was very good, but the number of times Charlotte Riggs pulled off intercepts and not just run-of-the-mill intercepts, but big, big moment intercepts and sort of storming through traffic and shrugging off tackles and giving West Coast field position. She's certainly one to watch going forward.

Eliza Reilly (3:32)

Yes, and I had the task of voting on the middle, and it was for me very hard to split the three players. I gave Ella Roberts three based on how she went in the last quarter. Mim Strom, the two of you touched on there, and I gave Charlotte Riggs the one, but probably could have jumped a bit further in the order, as you mentioned, Duff. But she's been terrific for West Coast. She was probably slid a little bit in the draft because there was some concerns from recruiters over her sort of competitiveness. She's quite an outgoing sort of bubbly character, and they thought that that might not translate that sort of personality on field. So the Eagles got her at, I think, peak 24, which was a lot lower than many predicted she would have gone. And, you know, in the first year, had a fractured wrist during preseason, had to fight back from that and played some really good footy. But they've thrown her into the ruck this year because they need that sort of athletic ruck who's able to cover the ground and get back behind the ball, as you mentioned, with that intercepting ability and also her clearance ability around the ball. And she's just taken it to like a duck to water. She's been terrific in that role and is really emerging as one of the best young key position players in the competition.