Draft Diaries will follow Vic Country's Lila Keck and South Australia's Lauren Young in their final year of junior footy, with a few check-ins across 2023. The star duo – both members of the AFLW Academy – are expected to be drafted to AFLW lists ahead of the 2024 season. This article introduces West Adelaide utility Young, with Keck's first chat having been published last week.

AT THE start of November 2021, Lauren Young was on top of the world.

She'd produced an extraordinary series of performances at the AFLW Under-19 National Championships held months before her 16th birthday, taking out South Australia's MVP.

Needing special permission to play, Young turned heads every time she took to the field, her tall frame and curly ponytail catching the eye as she racked up possession after possession amid a strong team.

Word filtered out among AFLW list managers and coaches at Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham about the new face from South Australia; recruiters taking great glee in the reaction from counterparts at other clubs when they learnt that the kid dominating the midfield was just 15 years old.

Young was ready for a strong pre-season with West Adelaide ahead of the 2022 season, having taken out the SANFLW best and fairest (an open-age competition) after her amazing championships.

"I was definitely feeling really good coming into pre-season, I really wanted to get better from last season, this was going to be the year for it. But in November, the first week of pre-season, I did my knee in a handball game," Young told womens.afl.

"I just changed direction, heard a crack, someone came [across], I heard another crack, and I thought, 'this can't be good, but maybe it's a corkie'. Went off, turned out it was an ACL. I thought 'that's a bit of a stitch-up'.

"It was just devastating, it's the one word for it. I got more excited about getting into the rehab process rather than dwelling on it. I had some girls out at Westies who had done it at the same time as me, so they were a big help. It was a long 12 months, but so good to be back."

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Young has played eight games so far this SANFLW season with West Adelaide, averaging 17.8 disposals, 4.4 marks and kicking 5.12.

Serious and laser-focused on the field, Young's bubbly and chatty demeanour is a little disconcerting if the footy-playing version was your first impression.

Standing at 179cm – the height of some AFLW rucks – Young can play anywhere on the park, but enjoys midfield the most.

"I love a bit of competitiveness, I don't like losing the one on ones. I'm a marking option down the line," she said.

"I love the clearances, when your team is up in the midfield and you know the scoring's coming from drive in the midfield, so [you're] helping the team."

Young's been playing footy since she was seven, starting at her older brother's club Plympton Bulldogs with the boys. She eventually switched to girls' footy with the Bulldogs, before crossing to Goodwood Saints for the remainder of her local footy.

That 2021 SANFLW best and fairest season was her first in a senior women's competition.

Looking back at the under-19 championships of that year, the series that put her name on the map, Young is reflective.

"I was nervous. I knew all the girls from the team, but I was a late inclusion, so I was definitely a bit nervous. But the girls were so good," she said.

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"I knew the Zoe Prowses and stuff who were about to get drafted in the next [few months], and it was like, 'oh my god, I'm in the same team as them', but it was so much fun. It was a really good experience that I'm really grateful for."

Young, a year 12 student at Henley High School and zoned to Port Adelaide's Next Generation Academy (the South Australian clubs don't have automatic rights to their NGA players, by mutual agreement) grew up a "hardcore" Adelaide fan, but has had to switch allegiances after her time at the Power.

She doesn't have a part-time job, aside from the occasional babysitting and dog-sitting stint. While Young doesn't have a dog herself, she has two rabbits, Walph and Ellie, adding with a laugh the origin of Walph's name was too long a story to tell.

Having dabbled with soccer, and tennis and basketball to a lesser extent, Young is pleased she's settled on football. 

But having been in the headlines for two years now, does she feel the pressure of being the Lauren Young, wunderkind, now she's finally in her draft year?

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"I do feel the pressure, but I don't. I'd say I love pressure because you thrive off it, and if there was no pressure, there'd be no point," she said.

"I definitely do get a bit nervous, especially round one (her first game back). I ended up with like two hours sleep the night before, but I slept for the 10 hours [after], but I was so nervous the day before. 

"As you get more into the season, I feel like it drops off and you just play the way you want to play."