Time to call your tailor: who should get their first All-Australian blazer?
Before the All-Australian selection panel announces the 2025 AFLW AA squad, Liam names the players he believes are deserving of an All-Australian birth for their first time.
I have no doubt that selecting the AFLW All-Australian squad is an exceedingly difficult task, even if I have never taken part or been in the room to witness that selection process. I also feel that some of the criticism levied at the selection panel seriously misses the mark, failing to grapple with the inherent need to show why, if one must come in, why another must go.
However, I do have some strong feelings about which players are deserving of recognition for their 2025 seasons, and I feel that my energy is best served in spending constructing a case for some of official recognition of the league’s less rewarded players, being those who have never before made the All-Australian team.
This article is the culmination of that spent energy, and comes out BEFORE the squad has been selected, steering clear of the mire that can be arguing about “well, who do you think should’ve missed?”.
Note: All stats/biographical info are correct to the end of Round 11, and all statistical rankings are limited to players who have played 5+ games
Fullback: Georgie Cleaver, West Coast Eagles
Bio: 20 y/o, pick #39 2023 National Draft, 22 games, 2nd season
Why? Drafted by the Eagles as a hybrid tall in 2023, Cleaver has spent her very short career playing nearly every game as a key defender. In 2025, Cleaver has rapidly accelerated from ‘project tall’ to the league’s premiere 1v1 key defender, losing only 3 of her 27 1v1 contests this season. Watching West Coast play, it’s become very clear that they trust Cleaver to lock down her opponent, and increasingly through the season, become the rebound 50 player (L5 games average of 5) in a defence fielding far more heralded options in Charlie Thomas & Emma Swanson.
It is rare to see such a tall defender break out so early in her career, but after only 2 seasons, Cleaver looks well on her way to pushing Tahlia Gillard for the title of league’s top mobile tall defender.
Key stat/s: Among players with 2+ defensive 1v1s per game, Cleaver ranks first for loss% (11.1%)
Honourable mention: Cambridge McCormick (GWS)
Halfback: Niamh McLaughlin, Gold Coast Suns
Bio: 32 y/o, 2023 rookie signing (County Donegal), 32 games, 3rd season
Why? Put simply, McLaughlin has been involved in just about every bit of good ball movement from the Suns in 2025. She makes exceptional choices with ball in hand, has an ability to find small creases in congested situations for damaging handball chains matched by few other AFLW players, let alone among defenders.
We had seen glimpses of McLaughlin’s line breaking abilities in her first two seasons, but after deciding to stay in Australia this offseason, and with the new title of Suns co-captain, it’s now on full display every single week. Deployed predominantly as a half-back, with a handful of stints in the midfielder each game (and the less frequent but substantially more bizarre stints as a forward pocket), McLaughlin accumulates more disposals than any other defender in the competition, and with Madi Gay not in line for an AA spot in 2025, I believe that blazer should be handed to Niamh.
Key stat/s: 1st for disposals & clearances among defenders
Honourable mention: Maeve Chaplin (Melbourne)
Wing: Dayna Finn, Carlton Blues
Bio: 25 y/o, 2023 rookie signing (County Mayo), 26 games, 3rd season
Why? From one Irish breakout to another: Dayna Finn has become the AFLW’s best wing in 2025. Much like Carlton have shifted from a young but flawed list to a finals side, Finn has risen meteorically from project wing/flanker in 23/24 to the competition’s best. Her ability to find space on the wing for marks has been vital in shifting Carlton’s gameplan away from being wholly reliant from winning stoppages to being able to control the ball around the ground.
Finn’s time in defence across her first 15 games has also primed her for the key wing responsibility of fitting into deep defensive zones as the widest defensive player, and it shows in currently being the AFLW’s number 1 midfielder for intercept possessions.
Key stat/s: 1st for marks in entire AFLW, and 1st for intercept possessions among midfielders
Honourable mention: Eliza McNamara (Melbourne)
Midfield: Tyla Hanks, Melbourne Demons
Bio: 25 y/o, pick #6 2018 draft, 83 games, 8th season
Why? Hanks is no stranger to the AA squad, having been a member 2021 and 2023. 2025 has been comfortably her best season to date, with career highs in disposals, tackles, and metres gained per game. In the absence of Olivia Purcell, Hanks has blossomed into a prototypical inside/outside midfielder, as adept as an extractor as she is in finding pockets of space outside stoppage, and the perfect foil to Kate Hore’s attacking mentality in the Melbourne midfield. Hanks’ play this year justifies her inclusion in league’s upper echelon of midfielders, in large part due to her consistency and cleanliness, while not being a statistical standout in any singular category.
Key stat/s: Only mid to avg. 20+ disposals to be top 10 for both kick and handballing efficiency
Honourable mention: Georgia Nanscawen (Essendon)
Ruck: Lucy Wales, Hawthorn Hawks
Bio: 22 y/o, pick #22 2022 draft, 41 games, 4th season
Why? Wales is the AFLW’s best defensive ruck, averaging over more 1.1 more intercept disposals per game than any of her contemporaries, and averages 2 intercept marks per game, which is second only to Imogen Barnett (2.5) among rucks. Combine that defensive ability with Wales’ more than adequate hit out win rate & hit out to advantage rate, and her competition best (again, among rucks) ability to win the ball in contested ground ball scenarios, and I sincerely hope Wales is considered for a blazer in 2025.
Ruck was the toughest position in this article. Matilda Scholz has been excellent in 2025 and has every right to be considered for a spot in the AA team. However, it felt *right* to argue in favour of the best defensive ruck, who might not get into the AA team due to an untimely and desperately unlucky late season appendix surgery, when conventional wisdom / punditry will likely push the case for the more attacking and publicly heralded Scholz.
Key stat/s: 2 intercept marks per game, #1 ruck for intercept possessions and for ground ball gets
Honourable mention: Matilda Scholz (Port Adelaide)
Half-forward: Blaithin Bogue, North Melbourne Kangaroos
Bio: 25 y/o, 2024 rookie signing (County Fermanagh), 11 games, 1st season
Why? The third Irish breakout of this article, and I’ve saved the most improbable for last. Blaithin Bogue is the prototype AFLW half forward. Fast, clean, accurate, comfortable in space and at contest, there is little she cannot do. The fact that she has become that player in her first season playing AFLW is completely insane, but I defy anyone to name a player who better exemplifies what coaches ask (or ought to ask) of their half forward flankers.
The last time the league had a first-year player win the goal kicking medal was 2020, when then St Kilda rookie Caitlin Greiser lead the comp for goals. In the same way that Greiser was named in the AA team 2020, Bogue should be getting her blazer in 2025, even if she doesn’t win the goal kicking medal.
Key stat/s: 20 goals, tied for 2nd most in the AFLW
Honourable mention: Erone Fitzpatrick (Carlton)
Full-forward: Indy Tahau, Port Adelaide Football Club
Bio: 23 y/o, pick #37 2020 draft, 44 games, 5th season
Why? If Blaithin Bogue’s story was improbable, it would be rude to not say the same of Indy Tahau. Whether she win’s the H&A season goalkicking title or not, Tahau going from ‘defender/utility returning from an ACL’ to ‘athletic key forward terrorising the AFLW’s best defenders en route to a 20+ goal season notwithstanding 3 games played most in defence’ CANNOT be understated or looked over.
Port Adelaide’s gameplan has long fed the ball to its key forwards as early, as direct, and as often as any team, which when matched with Tahau’s athleticism and exceptionally clean hands when flying for marks, has been a match made in heaven.
Key stat/s: 23 goals, most in the ALFW
Honourable mention: Aine McDonagh (Hawthorn)
Interchange Pt. 1: Montana Ham, Sydney Swans
Bio: 21 y/o, pick #1 2022 draft, 35 games, 4th season
Why? It took until her 4th season, but Montana Ham has finally put together an entire season which showed everyone why she was the #1 draft pick in Sydney’s expansion draft. Ham’s galloping, long kicking and f50 penetration game style has been the perfect yin to Laura Gardiner’s yang in the Syndey midfield. Her case for a spot in the AA team would be a slam dunk if Ham had managed to convert more of her shots in goals, but as the league’s best mid-forward for metres gained, and a key cog for a potential finals side, the case for her inclusion remains strong.
Key stat/s: #1 forward for metres gained, #2 for inside 50s
Honourable mention: Erika O’Shea (North Melbourne)
Interchange Pt. 2: Courtney Hodder, Brisbane Lions
Bio: 21 y/o, pick #1 2022 draft, 35 games, 4th season
Why? A spot in the All-Australian team would complete the AFLW awards set for Hodder, having already won a premiership medal, taken mark of the year, and kicked goal of the year. 2025 has also been Hodder’s most consistent year. Coach Starcevich has pushed Hodder higher up the ground when playing as a half forward, and into a larger number of CBAs in 2025, something that he’s done in both 2023 and 2024, but for shorter periods of the season, and often only as the season neared the final series.
Hodder’s top skill is her tackling / pressure game, and no-one playing Hodder’s role has come close to matching her defensive prowess in 2025. When you pair that defensiveness with her continued ability to convert in front of the big sticks, it is clear that Hodder should be given a blazer in 2025.
Key stat/s: 6.7 tackles per game (#1 for forwards), 2nd for F50 ground ball gets
Honourable mention: Jasmine Ferguson (North Melbourne)
How did I do?
I am very aware that this list is my subjective view of the AFLW in 2025, and thus not impervious to critique. I am more than sure that there will be other players who make the AA team for the first time, or I will have missed the very clear candidates in this article.
Whether it be in the comments section on Substack, or on whichever social media platform you happen to stumble across, I would love to hear your thoughts on this list - be it to talk about someone you think should have been included, or to explain why you think that I have substantially overrated someone’s contributions this season!
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Artwork commissioned and supplied by the Free Kick gang in a “10 seconds to look at the logo 90 seconds to paint it” challenge from mid-2025