IN a new exciting collaborative countdown, the Rookie Me 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 38, Brisbane Women’s Dakota Davidson.

Dakota Davidson

Brisbane

League/s: AFLW

Season/s: 2020, 2021, 2022, S7, 2023, 2024

• Games [tot]: 50

• Goals [tot]: 55

• Disposals [avg]: 7.4

• Marks [avg]: 3.2

• Tackles [avg]: 1.6

• Cont. Poss: 3.8

• Uncont. Poss: 3.2

• Clearances: 0.9

• Inside 50s: 1.4

• Rebound 50s: 0.1

Lions forward Dakota Davidson is coming off a breakout year in 2021, and it is hard to believe it was her first full season. She played the six games in an interrupted 2020 year, slotting 2.3 in that time and getting a taste for the action as the Lions rebuilt. But it was 2021 where she came to life, slotting 16 goals in 11 games. Not a huge possession winner – averaging just 7.5 disposals per game – Davidson applies enough defensive pressure to match her 1.5 goals per game, and is a key member of a damaging Lions forward 50 setup. Providing the size that helped work in tandem with the silky Courtney Hodder, the Lions were able to apply scoreboard pressure in multiple ways.

Davidson led her team’s goalkicking last season as the premier target inside 50, kicking the 16 goals to be ahead of Hodder and Greta Bodey (nine apiece). But wherever she goes, success seems to follow her, with her 2021 season featuring two premierships – both that of Brisbane’s AFL Women’s triumph and her state league flag with University of Queensland in the QAFL Women’s – but she has far from just been a role player. Davidson won Best on Ground in the Lionesses’ flag, slotting four goals from 18 disposals. Whilst her AFLW flag was a quieter with just the five touches, her contributions throughout the year drove Brisbane to the pinnacle.

Davidson was named in five of the eight AFL Women’s Top 50 lists, ranging between 23rd and 46th, with three of the five in the mid-30s, leading to the overall ranking of 38th.

ROOKIE ME 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) | ARTICLE
#42 Georgie Prespakis (Geelong) | ARTICLE
#41 Breann Moody (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#40 Hayley Miller (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#39 Emma King (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#38 Dakota Davidson (Brisbane)

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Picture credit: Getty Images

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