West Coast defender Georgie Cleaver says last Friday’s loss will serve as a major learning curve for this weekend as her side prepares for a rematch against Carlton in this weekend’s Elimination Final. 

Hopes of a maiden AFLW finals appearance were briefly on hold after the Blues handed the Eagles a 20-point loss at Sullivan Logistics Stadium, leaving them with a nervous wait over the coming days.

Eventually, the stars aligned 48 hours later, with Essendon pulling off a shock victory against Sydney, and Adelaide and Fremantle avoiding a draw to see West Coast officially locked in for finals in 2025. 

Eight days later, West Coast are set to play Carlton again at Ikon Park and earn a shot a redemption for last Friday’s loss. 

“We took a lot of learning from that game and obviously, we’re so lucky to get to rematch and learned so much,” Cleaver told SportFM.

“We can go out, knuckle down and stick to our processes. Our defence is pretty good, but the weather didn’t go our way. 

“We’ve got Jess Rentsch back as well, so that’ll help us a bit with her pressure and ferociousness. 

“I think taking the chance will do us good. We’ve learned a lot more over the past few days.”

Someone familiar with finals is second-year coach Daisy Pearce, who won a flag with Melbourne as Captain during her playing days. 

But even with that experience as a player under her belt, Cleaver says Pearce, now in a coaching role, is excited about the milestone achievement for the side.  

“It’s her second season here, and she’s done a lot of work for us and helped us get to where we need to be,” she said.

“We trained on Monday, we train today, and we fly out tomorrow morning, so it’s pretty much a normal week, any away trip. 

“We’re treating the finals like any other week. We’ve played pretty high-end games, pretty exciting games that haven’t been finals. We sort of know what it’s like and how to handle that pressure.”

A finals appearance also ensures last weekend’s Carlton defeat won’t be the last the AFLW community has seen of inaugural Eagles vice-captain Dana Hooker, who has recently announced her retirement. 

Hooker, who played for Fremantle in the AFLW’s first season, has been a reliable and strong leader for the club and has played 66 games in her career. 

With no certainty, West Coast would be playing finals following last Friday’s loss, Hooker was prematurely chaired off and celebrated by her team in case the Eagles’ season ended that night. 

But with West Coast’s advancing to finals, Cleaver hopes it will be a few more weeks before Hooker gets chaired off again. 

“She’s obviously been around the club forever, had a massive impact. I’ve had some really good chats with her,” she says. 

“She’s got a lot of footy knowledge and life outside of footy as well. We’re so happy that she gets to play again, and hopefully it’s a couple more weeks, not just one more.”

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