ON Tuesday night, the AFLW draft will see 61 of the country’s most talented female footballers find a home.
The Geelong Falcons, who finished runner-up to the Oakleigh Chargers in this year’s NAB League grand final, have six players with legitimate claims on being drafted.
If all six were to hear their names called, it would be a record haul for the Falcons.
Coach Paul Corrigan gave krockfootball.com.au his thoughts on why the six players below could earn their chance of an AFLW list spot.
PAUL CORRIGAN ON:
TESS CRAVEN – DRYSDALE
“She’s just a natural footballer. Since I first laid eyes on her at training, I just knew she had that real potential as a footballer as we got through the pre-season and into the season. Playing that onball position, she’s just a class act with ball in hand, makes good decisions, and works really hard; she covers the ground really well. And I think her kicking efficiency and disposal efficiency is a real key to her game. I think she’s got the talent to go top 10. I think she’ll make a real impact in AFLW.”
ELIZABETH ‘LIZZIE’ DOWLING – ST MARY’S
“She was such a strong competitor for us down back. She had a number of roles throughout the year. Deep in the finals, she was playing on the best forwards or the best midfielders that were coming forward, like (Charli) Rowbottom. She’s one you can rely on in one-on-one contests; strong overhead. She likes to dash from defence, too, and you can use her as an attacking weapon with that left foot coming out of defence. I think she’ll be really valuable in the back half for whichever teams she goes to.”
GABBI FEATHERSTON – COLAC IMPERIALS
“Gabbi’s one who kept developing throughout the year. She’s such a powerful athlete. She can play a number of roles. We used her a lot forward, where she added great strength with her overhead marking. She can kick a ball a long way, too. We then used her as a second ruck. We used her as an onballer, too, because she’s just so competitive around the contest. She’s a real gut-runner and attacks that contested ball side as well. We loved her up forward because she gave us that impact in the air. And when the ball hit the ground, she would tackle and put pressure on. She grew in everyone’s eyes as the year went on, and she kept playing some really solid games for us. She doesn’t leave any stone unturned. Her dream is to get drafted, and whatever club she ends up at will be very lucky to have her because I can see her playing AFLW for a number of years.
INGRID HOUTSMA – GEELONG AMATEUR
“Ingrid is one that we watched early on. I was with Ingrid in being unsure what her best position would be. We put her out on the wing with her athletic ability and her profiling, the ability to cover the ground, which she did really well. I think she’s got a real knack with ball in hand. She makes good decisions, she’s strong overhead and was able to float forward us at times and kick goals throughout the year. She will only get better as she trains and plays with more footy. I think she’ll be a good pick up for whoever picks her.”
ANNIE LEE – GEELONG AMATEUR
“She reads the game really well. She was a star for us across half-back. She reads the ball well in the air and knows when to come off her opponent to play that intercept role. She defends really well. But the other thing I like about Annie is that she uses the ball really well off half-back. She gives you a lot of drive with rebound 50s, and she started a lot of our attack off half-back. I think she’ll be looked a pretty highly.”
POPPY SCHAAP – GEELONG AMATEUR
“I was really thankful Poppy got a chance with Vic Country. She proved to us playing that high half-forward and onball role. She’s so clean – a one-touch player, and makes good decisions with ball in hand and is quite smart around goal. Her front-and-centre stuff is second-to-none, and she just finds the footy. She’s got an exceptional workrate. No matter what size you are these days, if you’ve got a really good football brain, can use the ball really well and be really clean, you will be looked at. If they watched her performances throughout the year, height doesn’t matter with her. She’s strong overhead one-on-one, and then she gets them on the ground.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
