Danielle Laidley - 300 AFL Games As Player and Coach (22.07.2026)

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**Mark Duffield** (1:05)
Lailing WA for WA. This is Mornings with Mark Duffield on SENWA.
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Optus Stadium on this Wednesday morning in Perth. We've got a great show for you today. A big first hour with Danielle Laidley and Freo footy manager Joe Brydie, Duff and the Doctor, coming up in the second hour of the show. But right off the top, she played 300 AFL games for West Coast and North Melbourne and coaching North Melbourne in the AFL. Danielle Laidley joins us. Danielle, welcome.

**Danielle Laidley** (1:42)
Good morning, Duff.

**Mark Duffield** (1:44)
Danielle, you never played in a Western Derby. How was it viewed from the other side of the country?

**Danielle Laidley** (1:51)
Um, to be honest, it's more a blip on the radar.
You know, unless something happens like a big dust up or, you know, something like that, it sort of comes and goes pretty quickly. Uh, I do think when, um, you know, both teams are up and about, that, um, people will watch, um, but obviously not as significant as it is in Perth.

**Mark Duffield** (2:32)
Yeah, it has to be consequential, doesn't it, for the overall scheme of things, for people to get really interested in it, which is probably why the showdown has, uh, has gained more traction over East.

**Danielle Laidley** (2:43)
Yeah, it's, it's certainly elevated itself, um, now across a period of time. Um, and that, that's due probably just to the results, um, and the crazy finishes that they've had, um, over a period of time. So, you know, I'd say the Derby is, is behind the showdown, but certainly in front of the Queensland, um, whatever they call it up there, uh, between Gold Coast and Brisbane, and the battle of the bridge between Sydney and GDOS, it's, it's streets in front of those, uh, those games.

**Mark Duffield** (3:22)
I'm mounting a campaign, and I'm persisting with it, Danny. The Queensland one should be called Tropic Thunder. That's what I think, and, uh, one of my favourite movies. I think it would be a great name for the rivalry. Hey, are, um, are Fremantle faltering a little, or are they just going through that trudge period you get, sort of, from, um, about, sort of, two-third, two-thirds of the season on to just about a month before the finals when you start to really sharpen again?

**Danielle Laidley** (3:49)
Yeah, um, there's, um, I wouldn't say concerns. There's a, um, there's a watch, certainly on the stoppage games, and probably, um, their consistency over four-quarters of a game. That, those are things that I'm watching at the moment. You know, their stoppage game has been really good in the first nine rounds. And, you know, since that, you know, they've really struggled. Like, it was really interesting against Port Adelaide.
You know, in the first half, they conceded something like 33 points, um, which is, um, shocking.
And I think when I was looking at the stats, it was something like the eighth, um, worst opening half in regard to that, um, being scored against from stoppage. So it's not so much the volume that they're, that they're losing. It's, it's the scores that are coming from them, um, which is a, which is a big concern.

**Mark Duffield** (5:17)
Conversely, have West Coast improved markedly, do you think, from early in the season? Are they developing?

**Danielle Laidley** (5:24)
Oh, 100 percent. Um, you know, if you, and you can pluck out, um, a few different stats. Um, but the way they're playing, um, they've improved defensively. The inside 50 efficiency is still, still down a little bit.
Um, I'll tell you where they have, have improved is out of the center bounds. And that has a lot to do with Bailey Williams and the new ruck rolls. And, um, you know, Harley Reed, um, and to a certain point, Kelly and Dersma, they're just feasting. Um, and that, that could cause Fremantle a bit of concern this weekend.