Strong roots vital for Fremantle growth
The 2025 NPL WA season finished on a fantastic high for Fremantle City. Inside the splendour of the 5-Star riverfront Ritz Carlton Hotel, the bubbles flowed and Charlie Chechlacz and Abbey Green raised their glasses to take the acclaim of their peers. Two Gold Medal winners savouring their moment.
Fast forward four months, and it’s soft drinks, pizza and sausage sizzles while youngsters crash shots at an oversized inflatable dartboard. This is Freo’s 2026 Season Launch at Hilton Park, where the New Balance NPL WA Men’s and Women’s squads are receiving their shirts from the club’s junior players.
For Club President Tony Estrano, the correlation is obvious – any success achieved at the top of the Fremantle tree will only come from having strong roots.
“This is very important for us, with our juniors getting to present the shirts to the NPL Women’s and Men’s teams,” he said.
“2026 is the ninth year of our Academy … from under-nines through to the 16s, boys and girls. Today we had our Under 13s Academy and JDL teams present those shirts to the first team players and hopefully those 13-year-olds will be up on stage as 18s, 21s and first team as well.”
Samantha Geddes, head coach of Freo’s New Balance NPL WA Women’s side, agrees.
“Fremantle is really good at doing things like this and getting the whole club involved,” she said. “I think it’s good for the young girls to see the senior team and have that connection, and the handover of the shirts is really nice for the senior girls as well. It’s something I really like about Freo.”
To go with Green’s individual honour, Fremantle’s NPL Women’s side had further cause to celebrate last season as they lifted the State Cup for the first time. Captain Annabelle Leek hopes it will be the springboard for an even better campaign this year.
“Winning the State Cup was massive for us and hopefully we can carry that momentum going forward into this season,” she said.
“We’ve put in quite a lot of work in the off-season, started early and got a few new signings that we’re looking forward to incorporating into the season.
“It was disappointing not to finish in the top four last season. We made a slow start and were unable to make up the ground; that’s something we want to avoid this season. The league’s got stronger over the last few years, anyone can beat anyone on their day, and that’s made it a lot harder.”
Freo do not kick off their New Balance NPL WA Women’s season until 22 March but still have a huge game this Friday when they take on Balcatta Etna at Home Group Stadium in the semi-final of the New Balance NPL WA Women’s Night Series.
If they can repeat their State Cup final victory over Etna, they will meet either Perth RedStar or Perth Azzurri in the final at Percy Doyle Reserve on Sunday 15 March.
For Fremantle’s Men’s NPL side, the new league season began last Saturday with a 1-0 home loss to Stirling Macedonia. This followed a poor 2025 league season when they needed to come through the play-offs to avoid relegation.
Alongside Gold Medal winner Chechlacz, the club has brought in Floreat Athena’s experienced defender Chris Saldaris, plus attacking players Iljas Ahmedov from UWA Nedlands, Perth Glory Academy’s Max Naylor and Chad Nilson from Inglewood United.
Captain Cam Edwards said: “We have a few signings to freshen up the squad from last year. It’s going to be competitive, but with the group we’ve got, we’re capable of putting on a good show.”
Fremantle City seek their first win of the NPL Men’s season this Saturday night when they too travel to Balcatta Etna, who suffered a seven-goal thrashing at Bayswater City.
The match kicks off at 7pm, with the teams playing for the inaugural ‘Sicilian Cup’ as part of a day of festivities celebrating the two clubs’ heritage.
- All games in the 2026 New Balance NPL WA competitions will be shown live and free on Streamer.com.au
All the latest news from the 2026 New Balance NPL WA competitions on the NPL WA Facebook and @nplwa Instagram pages