Oakleigh Chargers Female Talent Coordinator Jen Phefley and U18 girls Head Coach Luke O'Shannessy give their thoughts on the club's upcoming U18 girls season.
2018 FINISH: 9th (3-6 record)
2018 BEST AND FAIREST: Bridie Winbanks
2018 TEAM OF THE YEAR SELECTIONS: Daisy Bateman
2018 AFL WOMEN'S DRAFTEES: Katie Lynch (Collingwood), Daisy Bateman (North Melbourne)
2019 HEAD COACH: Luke O'Shannessy (third season)
2019 SEASON START: vs Gippsland Power @ SkyBus Stadium, Sunday March 3
TOP 2019 AFLW DRAFT PROSPECTS
Emily Harley (local club – Blackburn): "Emily is a power athlete. Her assets are her strength, her marking ability and her thumping kick. She's also very hard to tackle and take to ground. She played as an inside midfielder last year and could go forward and play as a tall marking target too."
Gemma Lagioia (Blackburn): "Gemma is an outside player. Her whole skill base is at a really high standard and she's very smart with ball in hand. She's a smaller player but definitely has good running ability. Long-term, we think she could play anywhere on the ground."
Amelia Peck (Old Collegians): "This is Amelia's first season with us after she was spotted in the women's Young Guns Game last year. She's very mobile for a 180cm-plus player, has very sound marking capabilities and her kicking is at a high standard. We could see her playing in the ruck or as a key-position player."
POTENTIAL DRAFT SURPRISE PACKET
Alana Porter (St Peters): "Alana competed at national level in long jump and triple jump, which gives her line-breaking acceleration and speed. She's also a fierce competitor and is one of the strongest tacklers in the squad; she was able to match the physicality of Collingwood AFLW players in a tackling drill at a recent joint training session."
17YO PLAYER TO WATCH
Mimi Hill (Kew Comets): "Mimi often gets mistaken for a top-ager, because of her maturity level, professionalism, ability and durability. She just moves like a footballer; she has that balanced, strong movement. We dare say she hasn't ever missed a training session."
LEADERSHIP MATERIAL
"Mimi Hill (see above) is a natural leader and we're very confident she'd be in consideration for the captain or vice-captain positions. Emily Harley (see above) is another one – she was in our leadership group last year and players are naturally drawn by her presence. She's very much a lead-through-action type of player."
FAMOUS FOOTBALL RELATIONS
Greta Larkey (18yo in 2019, Old Scotch): Sister of current AFL player Nick Larkey – two games for North Melbourne.
Charlie Rowbottom (16yo, East Malvern): Sister of 2018 Sydney AFL draftee James Rowbottom.
Other famous sporting relations:
Kalarni Kearns (17yo, Kew Comets): Daughter of former Melbourne Storm NRL player Robbie Kearns.
TEAM STRENGTHS
"We've prepared the girls pretty well from a conditioning point-of-view and we think they'll be a lot stronger and fitter this year. There was a bit of a review done last year around how we train and trying to find those extra one-percenters here and there, so we've been focusing on clean ball-handling, aerial contests and pure competitiveness this pre-season."
