Four Greater Western Victoria Rebels girls will be hoping to have their AFL Women’s dream made a reality at the AFLW National Draft on Tuesday.
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Sophie Va De Heuvel, Georgia Clarke, Lauren Butler and Rene Caris have all been invited to attend the draft at Marvel Stadium.
Van De Heuvel is expected to be among top prospects, with her pace and athletic ability of great interest to clubs – the young talent is also a state-level cricketer.
Defender Clarke won the Rebels best and fairest while fellow prospect Lauren Butler, a great intercept marker, finished second at June’s votecount. While Caris is a promising ruck, also rated a strong chance to land an AFLW home.
Rebels talent manager Phil Partington said the girls had done everything they could do give themselves the best chance of being drafted in what will be a historic day for the GWV organisation.
“It’s a credit to the girls and their preparation for the draft combine, they did extremely well and tested really well,” Partington said.
“It’s great for the Rebels staff to help drive them to get into the academy and then the academies to fast-track these girls into hopefully being AFLW players in the future – it’s exciting for them.
“You’ll see the first Rebels girl drafted into the AFLW, which is really exciting for western Victoria.”
Meanwhile, former Ballarat Rush player Sophie Alexander has been selected for Collingwood’s AFLW list.
The Pies were granted compensation in the way of two pre-draft selections – Alexander taken with pick 29.
Alexander, who played with Collingwood’s VFLW team last season, is a talented forward who was named on the interchange bench of the VFLW team of the year at the conclusion of the 2018 season.
