AFLW draft: Claremont utility Claudia Wright overcomes cursed injury run to emerge as one of WA’s best draft prospects

“It was my birthday so it was quite the birthday present,” Wright said. “It was also just after I’d failed my driving test.

“It wasn’t my fault. I just had a really cranky guy. Sad tears turned into happy ones pretty quickly.”

It’s one of the few things that have gone right for the talented Claremont utility in the last few years.

While Wright is considered to be one of Western Australia’s most exciting prospects in this year’s draft, she’s also been one of the most injury-hit too.

After growing up playing junior football at Subiaco and Claremont, the latter courtesy of her primary school teacher and Tigers coach Amanda Robertson, Wright made her WAFLW debut at the age of 15.

She played 10 senior games for the Tigers but broke her wrist in the first week of finals, missing out on Claremont’s 2022 premiership breakthrough.

“I broke it on the day,” she said. “That was clear.

“It was pretty wonky and things weren’t where they were supposed to be.”

The injury occurred in June and Wright had a plate inserted a week later. By the time she caught up with her surgeon in December, it was clear that the injury wasn’t healing as intended.

“Something wasn’t quite right,” she said. “It was still quite sore.

“He knew straight away and said I’d torn my TFCC which is what they call the ACL of the wrist. I did it at the time of the injury but we didn’t pick it up. It was unfortunate it dragged out as long as it did.”

Wright had revision surgery in February of 2023 and was forced to miss the entire season, turning what should’ve been a relatively straightforward recovery into 19 months of rehab.

Such was her potential, she was still named in the AFLW National Academy for 2024. Wright played a significant role in Claremont’s 2024 flag after missing out on the Tigers first. And she was earmarked for a big role across half-back in WA’s National Championships campaign.

But just six minutes into WA’s final practice match, coincidentally against Claremont, Wright got tangled up with a Tigers teammate and fractured her leg.

“I ran over the ball and turned around to go pick it up,” she said. “My footing slipped and my back foot fell behind me and we both ended up falling back and sitting on my leg.

“We heard a few things that didn’t sound too nice.”

Wright has been recovering since, naturally missing the National Championships, and has been granted access to Fremantle’s facilities to aid her rehab.

Her draft journey hasn’t been easy but Wright wouldn’t change a thing.

“I was talking to my teammate Eva O’Donnell one day about injuries,” she said. “She’s had a god awful run so I asked her ‘How have you done it?’

“And she said ‘I let myself cry for half an hour. I set a timer and as soon as that timer went off, I wasn’t allowed to be upset anymore.’

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“I couldn’t describe the significance of the things I’ve gone through in the past few years and the resilience it’s instilled in me. Last year was my biggest year of growth of my footy journey so far and I wasn’t even playing.

“Everyone has to go through one tough injury in their life and I feel like I’ve got all of mine out of the way before my career has even started. Touch wood it’s all smooth sailing from here.”

Wright is predicted to be a late first round or second round selection.