Round 5 Women’s Recap

Subiaco has continued its WAFLW dominance with a fifth straight win on Saturday afternoon, with a convincing 37-point victory over South Fremantle being secured at Sullivan Logistics Stadium.

Maggie MacLachlan, who collected 20 disposals and created 5 inside 50 entries in the centreline, gave a lot of credit to Subiaco’s backline for the result.

“Hali Epis was elite down back,” MacLachlan explained. “She cut them off every time they tried to go fast.”

MacLachlan also made special mention of Olivia Crane, who played her first WAFLW game since 2023 after recovering from a ruptured ACL. “She didn’t look at all out of place.”

Subi’s backline was a major contributing factor in keeping the Bulldogs muzzled for the duration of the match, keeping them down to just 15 inside 50 entries and a single goal collectively.

The midfield also shone on the afternoon. Krstel Petrevski, Hayley Corlett and MacLachlan all put in stunning performances, with Petrevski once again setting a new personal best with an impressive 34 disposals. Dana Hooker also collected 27 disposals and a game-high 8 marks, while Lisa Steane helped solidify the connection from midfield to forward line.

“Lisa Steane always goes underrated, but she is the workhorse of the team,” MacLachlan said. “Lisa and I have been practicing our 1-2 to goal; pulling that off was quite fun.”

While MacLachlan undersells it a bit, the 1-2 she talks about was an exquisite running goal in the second term that started in the centre and ended with a 40 metre bomb from MacLachlan. It sits in the afternoon’s highlight reel, right next to Eva Popovsky’s hilariously improbable dribbling goal from deep in the forward pocket.

The newest notch on the belt strengthens Subiaco’s place at the top of the ladder as one of only two undefeated teams.

“The excitement levels are definitely crushing,” MacLachlan revealed when asked about the feeling in the squad currently. “About being 5-0… We know Grand Finals aren’t won in April, so I think we’re all very happy with how we’ve gone and are going but we want to keep getting better. We want to keep adding to how we play, continue to put wins on the board and go deep into finals.”

The Subiaco women will now have a few weeks off, with a league-wide break this weekend followed by a Bye the following week. It makes Subiaco’s next WAFLW match (a May 17th clash with fellow undefeated side Claremont at Sullivan Logistics Stadium) an excruciating wait.

“We’re lucky to have the two week break,” MacLachlan explained. “A group of us are off to play for WA, after all.”

Indeed, Lisa Steane, Krstel Petrevski, Tess Lyons, Paige Sheppard and MacLachlan herself have all been named in the WAFLW side that will face the SANFLW’s best at Adelaide Oval this Saturday. Subiaco, with 5 representatives, has the biggest representation of any Western Australian club.

But for the rest of the break?

“I’m sure the girls will do some sort of movement, but we get a little break to binge the TV shows we haven’t been watching and spend some time away from the club,” MacLachlan laughed.

“But we’ll get back on-deck post-bye to crack in for the Claremont game!”