Reilly couldn’t be happier with joining Swans

Wanting to play further up the ground, closer to home and wanting to be a teammate and not a rival to her partner, all made Chloe Reilly’s decision to join Swan Districts easy and she couldn’t be happier now as another finals series approaches.

Reilly was used to being part of success during her WAFL Women’s career with East Fremantle including kicking 41 goals across the 2023 and 2024 seasons which saw the Sharks play in Grand Finals both years, and win a premiership in 2023.

She was then still part of the East Fremantle team that lost to Swan Districts to open the finals in 2025, but after that she quickly switched to supporting the black-and-whites where her partner Taylah Edwards continued to play.

That meant that Reilly felt a degree of the pain Swans did feel with that one-point Grand Final defeat to Claremont knowing there was a good chance she would be in a black-and-white jumper in 2026 given her and Edwards had just purchased a house together not too far from Steel Blue Oval.

So across the summer, Reilly signed on at Swan Districts and because it was Edwards who would be playing a role as a deep forward that she was accustomed to at East Fremantle, she knuckled down to get ready to play further up the ground.

Reilly has now spent the season with Swans as a high half-forward and even spending some time in the midfield while still remembering how to kick goals and managing four of them in Sunday’s big win over South Fremantle.

Having played in plenty of big derbies against the Bulldogs, Reilly enjoyed kicking another four goals against them just as she did back in the preliminary final of 2024 also at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

“Yeah, I do love Freo Oval and the win we had was pretty unexpected if I’m being honest in terms of how much we ended up winning by,” Reilly said.

“We all came in thinking we were going to have to really rally and be in for a tough game. We certainly still did, but things just went well for us and I love versing South Fremantle and have that old derby rivalry with them and it was a good day in the end.”

And kicking four goals again

Because Reilly had been spending more time up the ground so far this season with Swan Districts and as a result she had kicked just the five goals in the first 10 matches.

But on Sunday, she enjoyed hitting the scoreboard once again with the four goals to show what she’s still capable of in front of goals having settled into a role of doing more run and kicking the ball inside-50 for the most part in 2026.

“I’m playing more of a linking role and being the one that kicks it to the forward as that half-forward a bit more this year,” Reilly said.

“I’m playing as part of that half-forward/midfield rotation so it was nice to get on the end of a few this time and get rewarded I guess for all of the hard running that I normally do.

“I was playing more of a deeper forward role most of my time at East Freo and I had an injury in 2022 when I didn’t play the whole season, and coming back the next year I still had lots of issues with my shins.

“So I couldn’t run like I can now so I played more of a deeper role and kept me in the game, and then I ended up winning the leading goalkicker for a couple of years which was nice. But I do love getting up the ground and using the ball a bit more.”

Joining another leading goalkicker

Rather than find it awkward playing against her partner last year including in the finals, Reilly actually enjoyed that even it if made for a different week at home.

Her and Edwards did have to have a discussion about if they felt it could work with them together on the same team, but with Reilly wanting to play further up the ground, it soon became an easy decision.

“Even playing against each other it was a bit of fun to be honest and we were playing at opposite ends of the ground so didn’t really bump into each other too much out there, and then in that final last year we tried to take the positive knowing that at least one of us would be on a winning team,” Reilly said.

“Then coming into Swans, it was a bit of a weird one and it was a big decision to make whether to play on the same team or not because we had both played most of our careers as deep forwards.

“She was just the leading goalkicker of the whole comp last year so we didn’t want to get in each other’s way, but I came in obviously wanting to play more midfield minutes anyway and higher up the ground so in the end we were very excited to get to play on the same team together finally.”

Successful season so far

Reilly joined a Swan Districts team that only fell two points short of winning a premiership last year. She couldn’t be happier with how things are now going with them currently sitting in top spot with a 10-1 record.

They have still been able to win while not always playing at their peak, but Reilly sees that as a good sign and is feeling good about their prospects heading towards finals given last Sunday was likely their most complete performance of 2026.

“Of course this is exactly how everyone wants their season to go aside from that tough loss that we had against Claremont which looking back at it none of us were really surprised because we didn’t play the game of footy we wanted to play that day,” Reilly said.

“But it is good that we’ve been able to play the footy we want to play every other game and get on top of other teams even when we’re not exactly at our best.

“For example on the weekend, that was our best football and the first couple of rounds against Claremont and South that was also our best footy before we dropped away a little bit in between and still managed to win.

“So that’s reassuring to know that we keep on getting stronger every week which is nice to know and comforting even though finals footy is completely different.

“I was in quite a few finals campaigns with East Freo but I think them having last year in the finals here at Swans and making a Grand Final and now being a similar team, they’ll know more how to play that time of year if we can get there again.”

Swans having that motivation from last year

Not only did Reilly feel that pain Swan Districts went through with that one-point Grand Final loss last year, she has lived that herself after losing to Claremont in the 2024 decider.

So she has lived that experience that Swans are coming into 2026 and having that little bit of extra drive in the back of their minds, she does feel it could be a factor in why they are performing so incredibly well just to try and make sure they can go that one step better.

“That can work as some motivation and I lost a Grand Final to Claremont as well so I kinda have the exact same feeling that they have this year,” Reilly said.

“I was also pretty a part of the team last year because I am dating one of the players so I was still involved with a lot of the social side of the team so I was around when they went through that, and it also was a good kickstart for me to feel welcomed.

“It’s weird because I’d been playing for a team that they beat in the finals too, but by that Grand Final I was just hurt for them because obviously through Taylah I’d been through that experience of their season too and saw that they deserved to win.

“So I was hurting as much as she was on the day when they lost by a point.”