AS FINALS approach, team success is in sharp focus, but some attention has begun to slide toward the highest individual honour in the AFLW, the League's best and fairest.

In the past, the conversation has largely swung between last season's winner Monique Conti and perennial fan favourite Jasmine Garner, but this year two other serious contenders have emerged.

One, Ebony Marinoff, is seemingly a sure thing. The other, Ella Roberts, is a smokey. What is certain, however, is both have been playing some exceptional footy this year.

The Sure Thing

Marinoff has gone from being a top-10 pick at the inaugural Telstra AFLW Draft, and named the very first Telstra AFLW Rising Star, to this year becoming the co-captain of Adelaide.

Always considered among the best handful of players across the League, Marinoff has remarkably gone to a new level in 2024, and it is largely off the back of her workrate.

Although her numbers with ball in hand are generally the key focus of fans and media alike – reasonably so – it is in fact what she does without the footy that actually makes her team as a whole better.

Her intelligence makes her hyper-aware of when she can impact the play by attacking the footy itself, or when she can do the job by drawing an opponent out of space. This has allowed her teammates to play their best footy as opposing players' focus on just how dangerous she can be, means Marinoff is able to shift attention away from others.

This can often be seen as the Crows move the ball forward, with Marinoff tracking inside 50 with an opponent trailing her, and she remains on the move to create disruption among opposition structures.

Then, her impact with the ball is valuable in itself – also born from her impeccable workrate.

She is a two-way runner, meaning she is willing to get her hands dirty with the ball, or in defensive efforts, and sets the professional standard for the League itself.

The Smokey

There was never any doubt when Roberts was taken with pick No.14 in the state-based 2022 draft that she would quickly become a star of the competition.

She, too, has built her brand off the back of incredible workrate where she typically starts up around the contest and either presses forward to become a marking target inside 50, or slides back to intercept.

Her contested marking has been eye-catching, as she sits fourth in the League for the metric so far this season. What she does especially well is her early bodywork to ensure she is well-positioned to protect the fall of the ball.

Then, on the deck, she is one of the best players across the AFLW at breaking tackles, so she is very hard for opposition players to stop on all levels.

Because of this, Roberts has had a starring role in West Coast's emergence as a competitive, attacking side.

Marinoff looms as the player to beat as the count wears on but it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that Roberts will jag plenty of votes come this year's W Awards.