ASH CENTRA is hot favourite to be taken with the No.1 pick by Collingwood in the upcoming Telstra AFLW Draft.

Such is her talent, she's been flagged as an early selection for a number of years now.

Centra plays in a deceptively laidback fashion – like many a basketballer-turned-footballer before her, she appears to have oodles of time to dispose of the ball, when in reality, it's her ability to shake clear of traffic, coupled with an unflappable nature.

If you watch the 2024 Coates Talent League best and fairest winner before a game, she's laser-focused.

Headphones are on, sitting quietly in a corner. 

While many love feeding off their teammates' energy to hype themselves up before a match, she's the opposite.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I set high standards, but there's a lot of unnecessary internal pressure I put on myself, as well as the external," Centra told AFL.com.au.

"I've had a really supportive network back at Gippy (Gippsland Power) and having them as an outlet has really helped.

"Looking back at the year, I can definitely say I'm a little bit of an introvert and have got that feedback from my teammates. But once you cross that line, all you want to do is play for the team and win. But before games, I like to keep to myself.

"I love Rihanna, I love Taylor Swift on different occasions. And some rap, too, to hype me up."

The powerful midfielder is from Seaspray, a small town on the east coast of Victoria, just south of Sale.

She averaged 27.1 disposals, 4.2 clearances and 1.5 goals over her 12 Gippsland matches this year, including an astonishing 47-touch, four-goal domination in her first game of the year.

"I'm a very family-oriented person, I tend to hang out with my family a lot, probably more so than normal teenagers would," Centra said.

"I can give credit to my little (five-year-old) sister, she's a big outlet for me at the moment, just hanging out with her.

"I live 50m away from the beach – that's convenient only in summer, though, it can get a bit cold in the winter. But I tend to find myself at the beach a lot, whether that be surf lifesaving during the summer, or just swimming or meeting up with friends."

Centra also has a twin brother, Luca, who helped get her into footy in the first place.

"I started pretty young, I was about five or six when I started Auskick. Growing up being involved in the juniors with the boys (at College junior footy club in Sale), going all the way from Auskick to top-age 14s. I was lucky enough to have a local Sale City (youth girls) team, I think it was the second year they were playing. Then played Gippy after that," she said.

"Having a twin, I was very competitive, I always wanted to beat him, so I think that grew my love of footy.

"I've played the majority of my footy career in the midfield, I know in Gippy in the last couple of years, I've played a bit of everywhere. But more dominant this year in the midfield. I love the competitiveness of it.

"I think it's hard to go past a good clearance then a good delivery by footy inside 50 to hit a target."

Basketball was a big part of Centra's early teenage years, but given she was 11 years old when the AFLW competition began, she has always wanted to play footy at the top level. 

"I started basketball when I was quite young, as well as footy. Juggled that for a few years, then obviously had to make a decision whether I wanted to play basketball or footy. I always knew when I was little that I wanted to pursue footy as a career, so chose that," she said.

"Monique Conti was a big inspiration for me, she played basketball and footy as well. So I kind of related to her, in some sense." 

Away from the field, she's got one eye on studying interior or graphic design, while there's a very strong chance that an early football dream will be realised, given Collingwood holds the top pick.

"I barrack for Essendon in the men's game, and Gold Coast in the women's. I grew up being surrounded by my family who were mad Essendon supporters, and was just nurtured in that environment daily," Centra said.

"Well, I was actually a Collingwood supporter when I was little, and my dad refused to take me to games unless I went for the Bombers."