Round 1 WAFLW Match Report

It was a memorable start to the 2026 WAFL Women’s season on Saturday with Swan Districts scoring a pair of wins against Claremont in revenge for how last year ended.

Both the WAFL Women’s and Rogers Cup Swan Districts teams lost in the grand final and preliminary final respectively last year, but started off the new season in perfection fashion on Saturday with a pair of wins at Revo Fitness Stadium.

The 2026 season got underway on Saturday afternoon with the Rogers Cup match up that ended up seeing Swan Districts score the 7.1 (43) to 3.5 (23) victory against Claremont.

The two teams played off in the Rogers Cup preliminary final last year with the Tigers scoring the 20-point win before losing the grand final a week later against West Perth.

It was a return encounter on Saturday with Swans making the fast start with three goals to one in the first quarter before still clinging to a four-point advantage by the half-time break.

Swan Districts then kicked the only two goals of the third quarter and then the only one of the last to secure the 20-point victory away from home for the perfect start to the 2026 season.

Keira Fawcett ended up kicking three goals in the win for the Swans with Lillyanah Baker adding two, and one each to Shaya Yarran and Rheanae Beagley.

That led into the WAFL Women’s Round 1 match up which doubled as a rematch from last year’s heart stopping grand final where Claremont beat Swan Districts by one solitary point to make it back-to-back premierships.

Swan Districts produced a dominant performance with three goals to one in the first quarter and then kicking the only four goals the rest of the way for the eventual 7.9 (51) to 1.4 (10) victory.

There was plenty to like in the first up performance from the Swans as they attempt to go one step better in 2026 with Ashley Sharp marking her return to the WAFL Women’s competition and kicking three goals from eight kicks.

Jaime Henry, Chloe Reilly, Tyla Fitzgerald and Taylah Edwards all added a goal apiece.

Henry continues to grow into one of the elite midfielders of the competition and finished the game with 32 possessions to go with 12 tackles, eight inside-50 entries and five marks along with the goal.

Alana Barba was also impressive with 20 possessions while former captain Jess Cox marked her return with 17 disposals.

Isa Edgley also collected 16 possessions, Jemma Sly, Kayley King 14, Tamzyn Beros 14 and Luka Davis 14 while Lauren Quaife did a power of work as usual in the ruck for 25 hit outs with six possessions and nine tackles.

Claremont did begin the grand final rematch by kicking the opening goal of the game thanks to Rachel Ortlepp at the 12-minute mark of the first quarter.

However, that would be the lone goal from the Tigers in the contest with Swans responding before quarter-time with goals to Jaime Henry, Taylah Edwards and East Fremantle recruit Chloe Reilly.

The Swans then opened the second quarter with an early goal to Ashley Sharp and that saw them end up heading into the half-time break leading by 20 points.

Sharp also added another goal to open the second half to push the lead out to 26 points and she kicked a third in the fourth to push the lead out to 34 points, and it got to 41 by the finish with another final term goal for the black-and-whites courtesy of Tyla Fitzgerald.