2025 AFLW Trade & Draft

[bandwagon]

AFLW Draft Combine list has been released, with 3 Swans Academy girls invited:
Alex Neyland - 178cm half forward/back
Madeleine Quinn - 185cm ruck
Kiera Yerbury - 173cm h/fwd -mid

I notice that there are 7 Gold Coast Academy invitees out of 46 total!

[ootf]

And Grace Parsons for the State Combine.

[liz]

I notice that there are 7 Gold Coast Academy invitees out of 46 total!

Including three of the top four in RMC's most recent power rankings.

AFLW Draft Power Rankings: July 2025 - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central

I really hope we get Neyland. I saw her dominate in an academy game earlier this year. I'm a little surprised to see her so high in these power rankings, but clearly I wasn't imagining what I saw in her in that game.

She also has a couple of younger sisters who are following her through the academy path.

Sydney Swans Foundation Spotlight: The Neyland Family?

[bandwagon]

Caught the replay of the AFLW Futures game from last week - these are girls eligible for the 2026 draft, and there were a few good Swans Academy prospects on display.

- Charlotte Tidemann. Very attacking half-back/wing, always looking to take meters and drive the ball forward. Speedy with good all-round skills and good vision when kicking to advantage. Seemed to cover a lot of ground, but there were lots of blonde girls with ponytails running around so maybe I attributed extra possessions to her. I presume the sister of our VFL player.
- Grace Tracey. Played fullback and was a rock. Read the play to intercept, took strong contested marks and tackled hard. Stayed involved in contests and generated plenty of rebounds. Took the kickouts and generally went long. 182cm tall already.
- Frankie Walsh. Quieter than her teammates, played wing and HFF. Her vivid red hair made her easy to spot, but didn't gain a lot of possessions.

[bandwagon]

AFLW Trade period will start tomorrow and is running until next Wednesday.

Apparently Taylor Smith of Brisbane has nominated us as her preferred destination. Which is good as a proven goal-kicking tall forward is just what we need, but is bad as it might impact our ability to draft all our Academy girls.
We shall see I guess.

[lwjoyner]

surely we need a coach before all trades and draft is done

[bandwagon]

We have completed a trade for Taylor Smith from Brisbane. She is a key forward, which is just what we need IMO. However she was in contract, so we had to pay up. Effectively we have slightly downgraded our R1 R2 & R3 picks and given up our 2026 R1 & R3 picks. Feels about fair to me, I'm just relieved we can (should) still match bids for Academy girls.

[Thunder Shaker]

Sydney Swans AFLW draft picks after the trade period: 18, 28, 46 in the first three rounds.