West Coast captain Emma Swanson says derby rivalry is important for football in Western Australia

West Coast AFLW captain Emma Swanson says the rivalry surrounding this weekend’s western derby was ingrained in players who grew up in the two-team town and is important for football in Western Australia.

West Coast have 25 WA-born players on their list and Fremantle have 20. Eight players have played for both clubs.

For Fremantle’s Aisling McCarthy and West Coast’s Roxy Roux, this clash will be the first time they have played against their old sides.

“What makes it so special and so big is that a lot of us are WA born and bred, and we’ve grown up in this two-team town and gone to school every week in the week leading into derby weekend, where the school’s split in half between purple and the blue and gold,” Swanson told The West Australian.

“And that’s just the way it’s been for us for so long.”

“The early teams at Eagles and Dockers in the AFLW, we adopted that rivalry really quickly and the games were heated and we have players who had played for Freo previously and when Eagles got a team they’ve come across and I think we’ve just jumped on the back of that.

“I think it’s fantastic for the game and at the end of the day the game’s only worth four points — it’s worth the exact same as what next weekend’s worth and exact same as what last weekend’s worth — but what it for what it does for WA football and the rivalry, I think is really important.”

Fremantle have never lost to their cross-town rivals, but this is the closest West Coast have ever been to breaking that ground. The Eagles are still in the finals mix with just three weeks left in the season.

Swanson said the belief that came from wins early on in the season had continued to develop despite some disappointing performances.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence from our wins this year and to see how good Richmond are going now and to look back on round one and know we got that scalp early on, the belief that they that gave us was big,” she said.

“We’ve been found out a little bit with a couple of the really good teams and that’s part of our progress and it’s part of us learning to see where we need to be.

“But I think this weekend — you get belief out of any win — but the external hype around the fact that we’ve never won one before, it’s getting closer and closer.”

Swanson will become the second Eagle to reach 50 club games on Saturday and has played every one of them as the club’s skipper.

“In the context of how many games we play per year 50 games feels like a lot. In the men’s game, if you played for six years and played almost every game you’re playing up around 150 games for the club,” she said.

“So when you reflect on that it’s an honour to have been a part of this club for the last six years and I’m not going anywhere.

“Hopefully I can stick around for the next couple and we can start getting some real good team success and start really celebrating the foundations that those first couple of teams, the inaugural West Coast team laid and really build on that.”

Coach Daisy Pearce paid tribute to the impact Swanson continues to make at the club and has had on football in the state.

“Swanny is just the ultimate competitor and professional. She sets the bar with that amongst our team from the minute she got there and even before that, with what she’s done in WA footy,” she said.

“She’s been such a loyal person to the club and been a really important figure that’s galvanised the group through challenging times over the years.

“And now, she continues to lead the way, with the way that she trains and prepares. The way she turns up with an enthusiasm just to get out there and play. And that’s signified this year with her team-first approach to playing a different role and really embracing that and doing whatever she can to help the team succeed.

“It will be awesome to celebrate Swanny in that way and a terrific milestone, they’re hard to come by in the AFLW. To play 50 games as a club captain is a pretty outstanding achievement.”