IN a new exciting collaborative countdown, the Draft Central has teamed up with other independent media organisations to bring a 2022 AFL Women’s Top 50 Countdown. Every weekday from now until December 17, a new player will be named starting from 50th down to 1st, stemming from a combined eight Top 50 submissions. Among those who submitted Top 50s include Siren Sport‘s Gemma Bastiani, Women’s Australian Rules Football (WARF) Radio‘s Peter Holden, and a combined Outer Sanctum team’s Top 50.

Today we continue our countdown with number 43, West Coast Women’s Dana Hooker.

Dana Hooker

West Coast

League/s: AFLW

Season/s: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, S7, 2023, 2024

• Games [tot]: 58

• Goals [tot]: 12

• Disposals [avg]: 15.6

• Marks [avg]: 2.1

• Tackles [avg]: 4.9

• Cont. Poss: 8.8

• Uncont. Poss: 6.4

• Clearances: 3.1

• Inside 50s: 2.3

• Rebound 50s: 1.4

Dana Hooker might perhaps be much higher on this list if she had not missed the bulk of the 2021 season due to injury. The West Coast vice-captain cut her foot after slipping from a kitchen bench and needing to repair a lacerated tendon. That meant she had only played one game in her second season with the blue and gold, coming off a club best and fairest in 2020. In her sole game – a loss to Adelaide – Hooker picked up 19 disposals, three clearances, three inside 50s and two rebound 50s to be one of the more prolific players as has come to be expected of the star.

Hooker’s ability has not just been in the recent years, but since she stepped onto the scene as a Foundation Docker way back in 2017. Managing the 22 games in the purple, Hooker averaged no less than 16.6 disposals per game across the three seasons, and was fierce in close with a ridiculous percentage of contested possessions. She was a phenomenal tackler, laying 7.3 per game in her final season with the Dockers in 2019. Her 2020 season was perhaps the best of the lot, having to stand up for the expansion Eagles, and averaged 19.7 disposals, 2.7 marks, 6.7 tackles and 4.2 clearances.

Whilst her 2021 season was a write off due to injury, Hooker is expected to bounce back, and with the knowledge it was not a joint injury that could reoccur, the Eagles star could well bolster her way up this list in 12 months time. From the eight lists, Hooker made it onto four of them, with a clear Top 30 spot, and another few in the mid Top 50 region.

DRAFT CENTRAL’S 2022 AFL WOMEN’S TOP 50

#50 Ash Brazill(Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#49 Tayla Harris (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#48 Courtney Hodder (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#47 Eden Zanker (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#46 Kirsty Lamb (Western Bulldogs) | ARTICLE
#45 Tyanna Smith (St Kilda) | ARTICLE
#44 Breanna Koenen (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#43 Dana Hooker (West Coast)

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Picture credit: AFL Photos