WITH the AFL Women’s 2020 season officially come to a close now the awards are done and dusted, Draft Central looks back on our Top 50 Players of season 2020. This countdown purely looks at the 2020 season so does not look at past performances and will not include injured stars such Erin Phillips or Chelsea Randall.

In this edition, we look at number 11 in our count, a midfielder whose 2019 season was curtailed by injury but made up for it in a big way in 2020.

#11 ASH RIDDELL

7 GAMES AVE: 21.3 disposals, 3.3 marks, 4.6 tackles, 3.9 inside 50s, 1.0 rebounds, 1 goal

Having finally earned her chance after spending time in the VFL Women’s program with Melbourne University, Riddell has played some impressive football in her first nine games at AFL Women’s level. Picked up by North Melbourne in 2019 and making her debut, Riddell burst onto the scene quickly for one of the league’s newest sides.

Unfortunately that dream debut would only last another week, as Riddell would suffer a long-term injury to rule her out of the rest of the 2019 AFL Women’s season. With a strong VFL Women’s season behind her where she averaged 27.6 disposals, 4.2 marks, 5.8 tackles and booted six goals in 10 games, Riddell would enter 2020 fully fit and raring to go.

It showed in her performances as she not only came back where she left off in 2019, but went to another level. Alongside unbelievable talents in Emma Kearney, Jasmine Garner and Jenna Bruton, Riddell held her own and more as one of the side’s premier ball winners all year. After only playing less than two full games in 2019, Riddell featured in all seven of the Kangaroos’ matches to average 21.3 disposals, 3.3 marks, 4.6 tackles and 3.9 inside 50s working hard in the midfield.

Her season earned her a spot on the 2020 AFL Women’s All-Australian team bench, and she finished third in North Melbourne’s best and fairest award – just five and four votes off Garner and Kearney respectively. Her lowest disposal count for the season was 18 against the GIANTS in Round 2, and finished each game with remarkable consistency, including averaging 23 disposals, 4.8 marks and 6.2 tackles in the final three games of the season.

At 24-years-old, Riddell has plenty of improvement left in her, and while the youth coming through are some of the best talent in the league, it shows that before the pathway system were fully developed, there were still plenty of stars biding their time in the state leagues.