AFLW premiership player Bailey Hunt joins South Fremantle after Noa McNaughton quits club
An AFLW premiership player has signed with South Fremantle after an emerging star quit for a rival club more than halfway through pre-season.
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AFLW premiership player Bailey Hunt has signed with South Fremantle for the upcoming WAFLW season after emerging star Noa McNaughton walked out on the club more than halfway through pre-season.
In a negotiated package agreement with East Fremantle, believed to be the first of its kind in the WAFLW, McNaughton will join the Sharks despite being a zoned player. Given there are no player transfer fees yet in the WAFLW, East Fremantle will compensate South Fremantle by paying for Hunt to relocate from Melbourne to Perth.
It’s understood that two weeks of tense negotiations were required to reach a resolution, and a direct player swap was one of the options discussed. The Bulldogs and Sharks will kick off Round 1 with a derby, adding extra spice to the Fremantle rivalry.
The 19-year-old is the daughter of former South Fremantle WAFLW coach Craig McNaughton.
McNaughton led the WAFLW program across 2022-2024, coaching the Bulldogs to their first finals series (2023), and in doing so, was recognised as the WAFLW Coach of the Year. McNaughton stood down last June.
Noa played 34 senior games for the Bulldogs and finished in the top five of South Fremantle’s best and fairest last year and the top 10 of the Dhara Kerr Medal. A crafty small forward, McNaughton had interest from AFLW clubs ahead of December’s national draft but was ultimately overlooked.
While disappointed to lose McNaughton, a former Rogers Cup best and fairest, South Fremantle female football manager Sean Pollard said a fair resolution was reached.
“Ultimately the rules protecting Noa due to her age and zone are there for a reason,” he said. “Noa is a quality player.
“While she just missed out on being drafted, we were committed to doing everything we could as a club to help facilitate that. We’ve spent plenty of time with her this pre-season speaking about her next steps.
“When we found out she wanted to go to East Fremantle, it was disappointing for us because we’d spent a lot of time on her development. Her dad was a big part in that as well and can take credit for that having been her coach.
“Ultimately, we don’t want to let talented players leave the club without some return on investment, just like in the men’s program.”
East Fremantle female football manager Darcy Meyers said McNaughton would play a big role for the Sharks this season after the club narrowly lost last year’s grand final to Claremont.
“With 11 players from our grand final team moving on, Noa is the perfect fit for our line-up,” she said. “For us, it was a no-brainer.
“She wants to develop her game further and we want to support her. Her dream is to play AFLW and we want to help her get there.
“It’s hard for South to lose a player of her calibre and it’s understandable in the sense that they stuck their heels in the ground and tried to work out a deal.
“If a player wants to improve their development and get better as a player, you can’t say no to them moving on.
“We did the best we could to support Noa through that very tough period of negotiations. Unfortunately, she missed a few weeks of training but since she’s come back, she’s been training so hard.”
Hunt played 50 games for the Western Bulldogs, including the club’s 2018 AFLW premiership. The 28-year-old utility has more recently been playing for Essendon in the VFLW and was in Perth for the Bombers’ AFLW elimination final against Fremantle when she was first approached about joining South Fremantle.
Given her experience, Hunt will be deemed an 11-point player per the WAFLW’s points cap, the second-highest value a player can be assigned.
“Being an inaugural AFLW player, she’s seen women’s footy evolve from what it was in 2015 to what it is now in 2025,” Pollard said. “Having someone like Bailey to lend that experience will be unbelievable for the girls.“
Originally published as AFLW premiership player Bailey Hunt joins South Fremantle after Noa McNaughton quits club
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