West Coast is deadly serious about its bid for an AFLW team and the club’s game development manager Adam Selwood says the Eagles can field a fiercely competitive outfit with the abundance of female talent in Western Australia.

The Eagles were granted a provisional licence when the competition was formed in September 2016 and the club has since worked tirelessly to develop WA’s female talent.

Selwood was confident that West Coast would have a team vying for the 2019 AFLW premiership cup.

“The bid is really strong,” Selwood told Triple M.

“We’ve got a provisional licence at this point; we’ve gone around again to make sure we’ve done the work over the last six-months, but the next 12-months as well, in the lead up to the 2019 (AFLW) season.

“We’re hopeful that if we get a licence in the next six weeks we’ll have a team that will be extremely competitive in that season and it’ll be all WA-based girls.

“There’s a lot of WA girls out there at the moment that are playing interstate throughout each club, I think it’s important that we try to bring a few of them home and represent the state that provided them the opportunities as juniors.”

The growth of female football has been remarkable the past few years and Selwood believes that girls from both metropolitan and regional WA could come together to form a formidable line-up for the Eagles.

“It’s grown over 25 per cent over the last 12 months and 200 per cent in regional WA,” he said.

“All those girls out there on farms kicking footys with their brothers and sisters are, in time, going to be very good players.

“When you put that percentage behind the growth of the game it’s really important.

“I’ve invested a lot of time in the pathway; I’ve actually coached the girls and understand that we’ve got a lot of indigenous and multicultural girls that could give us a point of difference.

“Hopefully the AFL can recognise that and give us the team that we’re after.

“We’re in a great position to field a really competitive side and I think the time’s 2019.”