Albany Sharks young gun Marlee Ashton has encouraging debut for Claremont in WAFL’s Rogers Cup competition

Albany Sharks midfielder Marlee Ashton made an impressive debut for Claremont Football Club in their Rogers Cup win against Swan Districts on Good Friday. Two days before the match, Ashton received a call from the Tigers asking if she was available to play for their young squad in the round five fixture against the Swans. “Me and mum drove up at 3.30am because I had work Thursday night and we got there at 8am. “I was pretty tired but I had lots of adrenaline, I started midfield and got a little bit of the ball. “Halfway through the game I switched on a bit more and started to gel with the girls after being a bit lost in the first half. “When I continued to play a bit more, I got some more confidence, all the girls were super-nice and made me feel welcome.” The Tigers claimed a thrilling one-point victory over the Swans at Revo Fitness Stadium after overcoming a 13-point deficit at three quarter time, finishing 5.9 (39) to 5.8 (38) victors. The Rogers Cup is a development competition for the WAFLW for female players between the ages of 15-18 that runs from March-June before the finals in July. “I spoke to the coach after the game and I said that we only have five more games in the GSFLW and we (Albany) have a good chance of making the grand final so I’d like to help them out with that first,” Ashton said. “After that they will try and get me up there again to play and now that I’ve played a game, I’m eligible to play finals too.” Ashton said she harboured ambitions to play at the highest level. “Once I finish school I’d like to move up there and play with them full-time to take it as far as I can and hopefully one day play women’s AFL,” she said. The Tigers dropped their first game of the Rogers Cup on Sunday in a 13-point loss to South Fremantle.