Bunbury-born footballer Ella Smith excited for what’s to come after signing with West Coast Eagles

A Bunbury-born women’s footballer hopes to become a role model for young girls in the regions looking to make it big in the sporting world after achieving her goal of making it to the AFLW. As the West Coast Eagles look to bolster their squad ahead of the upcoming AFLW season, the club signed Ella Smith as a pre-draft signing. The Claremont co-captain and reigning Dhara Kerr medallist joins West Coast as one of four mature-aged recruits after the club received draft concessions from the AFLW. Smith, who spent her junior football days with South Bunbury, said making it to the AFLW was “just a big dream come true”. “I’ve been working towards this for the last few years now and it’s definitely awesome to be a part of it now and the group is so warm and welcoming,” she said. “It has been such an awesome transition already. “I’ve been a train-on player for the past couple of years and I was there for the West Coast Academy as well, so I have definitely seen the club develop and it’s just so exciting to fully be a part of it. “We’ve had a couple of training sessions so far and the standard the girls are setting is just second to none so I’m really excited to be part of that and drive those standards as well.” Smith said having a taste of life at an elite level made her hungrier to get herself nominated for the AFLW draft and be recruited. “The opportunity that West Coast has given me over the past couple of years as a train-on has been fantastic and it’s given me a chance to be in an environment that is elite,” she said. “That has also me develop into what they would need in a future player and I was able to take some of that back to the state level. “I’ve learned so much over the past couple of years and it’s been an awesome opportunity that I’m so grateful to have been a part of.” After spending her junior years playing football, netball, basketball and athletics, Smith said she was very excited to hopefully become a role model for other girls that wish to make it into the sporting world. “I never really thought as a 13-14-year-old that AFLW was on the horizon and I was looking up to male players,” she said. “It’s just so awesome now that girls have a development pathway and they have female role models now which is so inspiring and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to look up to Emma Swanson and Bella Lewis by working with them. “I hope that I leave a very good legacy and get an opportunity to teach some younger girls, especially in the country. “I really hope that I can make an impact on the girls in the South West. “A lot of resilience is needed in sports these days so the key is to just keep persisting.”