Williams excited to grow along with Eagles

Given Tylah Williams had already played in their WAFL team and was part of their Next Generation Academy, there was a good chance he’d land at the West Coast Eagles and the Swan Districts excitement machine is now delighted to have done so.

Originally from Tambellup, Williams moved to Perth to enhance his football dreams which saw him join Swan Districts and it didn’t take him long to show his immense talents in the colts team of 2024.

He took his football to another level in 2025 as well both in the colts at Swans and then in the Western Australian team at the National 18s Championships, and then went on to play a couple of WAFL league matches in the Eagles team as well in the back end of the season.

That had him highly thought of around the country heading into the AFL Draft but given his NGA connection to the Eagles, that was always his likely destination and it proved the case when they used selection 39 on the 18-year-old.

Williams himself did have an expectation of being selected by the Eagles, but had also received interest from other clubs so the nerves were starting to grow heading into Night 2 of the Draft.

However, he couldn’t be happier to now be starting life full-time with West Coast having already felt comfortable at the club.

“For Eagles to pick me up, it was sort of an expectation and I had a bit of an idea I was coming here, and to be at a club like West Coast is really good,” Williams said.

“Obviously coming in throughout the year and playing those two league games, I slotted right in and feel real comfortable here knowing everyone and all the coaches.

“The difference is now it’s a full-time thing but at least the training part isn’t too different because I’ve already been doing some of it. But as the days go one it’s only going to get more and more, and I’ll have to wait for those days to come.”

Williams has become good friends over the past couple of years at Swan Districts with teammate Leon Kickett too and both had high hopes of each ending up in the AFL system for 2026.

That ended up happening with Kickett selected in the Rookie Draft by the Fremantle Dockers and their friendly rivalry will now continue with them at the rival Perth clubs.

“Obviously we played at Swan Districts together and then outside of colts also with some Noongar Aboriginal football carnivals where we went head-to-head with each other,” Williams said.

“With that I’ve got the one up on him but hopefully we get the chance sometime to play against each other next year, and see who gets the upper hand there which would be good.

“From Thursday when I got the call and then the Friday when he did, we’ve sort of just been going back and forth about which colours look better and all that stuff, and which club’s going to hopefully do well next year.”

With so many young faces now all together at the Eagles, Williams is excited by that prospect of them all learning and developing in the AFL system together, and then growing to help bring some success back to West Coast as they mature.

“We’ll have to see how the pre-season goes but the group we have is really exciting and obviously the draft crop they had was real good too,” Williams said.

“In years to come we’re going to be a really exciting group and I can’t wait to be part of that. With so many new guys at the same time, you will get to see everyone start to gel together over time and build connections which is something that’s only going to get better as time goes on. I can’t wait for when the playing time actually comes around.”