Richmond pounce on West Australian key forward Olivia Wolmarans with the prized No.1 pick
Top billing: Richmond drafted Olivia Wolmarans (left) with the No. 1 pick from Subiaco.Credit: AFL Pictures
“At the end of the day I just wanted to get on the AFLW list; it didn’t matter if I picked one or not,” Johnson said.
GWS then successfully bid on Sydney academy prospect Kiera Yerbury with the third selection.
Yerbury learned on Monday afternoon that Sydney would not match the offer but is excited to join its cross-town rivals.
“I had an idea that if things happened, they might not go the way I expected,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, I’m excited to be a Giant.”
BEST PICKS
- No.1: Olivia Wolmarans (Richmond)
- No.2: Scarlett Johnson (Greater Western Sydney)
- No.3: Kiera Yerbury (Greater Western Sydney)
- No.4: Sunny Lappin (Gold Coast) – matches offer from Adelaide
- No.5: Chloe Bown (Adelaide)
- No.6: Alex Neyland (Sydney) – Matches offer from Collingwood
- No.7: Ava Usher (Gold Coast) – Matches offer from Collingwood
- No.8: Imogen Trengove (Collingwood)
- No.9: Georgja Davies (Gold Coast) – Matches offer from Essendon
- No.10: Maggie Johnstone (Essendon)
The 180 cm tall Wolmarans, who stands out with a powerful kick and challenging kicks, had a heptathlon background before returning to football.
She will likely be a foil to veteran Katie Brennan as the Tigers develop.
The Suns traded the No. 1 pick to help them add as many top picks as possible to match offers made to highly-rated academy prospects like Sunny Lappin, Georgja Davies, Ava Usher, Dekota Baron and Alannah Welsh.
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Lappin, who could be a father-daughter choice for Carlton or St Kilda, where his father Matthew plays, became the first capper to become a standout from the Suns academy and Gold Coast matched Adelaide’s No. 4 bid.
Three Suns academy selections are in the top 10, with Sydney selecting Alex Neyland with the No. 6 pick after overlooking Yerbury.
Pick No.9 Georja Davies has included older sisters Giselle (Sydney), Fleur (GWS) and Darcie (Gold Coast) on the AFLW list after the Suns matched Essendon’s bid.
Gold Coast had six academy selections in the top 15, winning eight in total.
Two years after being the Western Bulldogs’ No. 1 pick, Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner was moved to North Melbourne’s No. 37 pick, days after North and the Dogs failed to agree on a trade.
The current premierships also drafted Ireland’s Sarah Wall, sister of two-time premiership Kangaroo Vikki Wall, with pick 53.
Twins Mizuki and Nalu Brothwell have reached the Bulldogs (pick number 14) and Essendon (pick number 50) respectively.
Hawthorn drafted Maya Dear, sister of AFL forward Calsher and daughter of former Hawks star Paul Dear, at pick 57, while Birsbane selected Meg Lappin, daughter of triple premiership star Nigel, two picks later.
AAP
