IN a new exciting collaborative countdown, 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 12, North Melbourne Women’s Emma Kearney.

Emma Kearney

Kangaroos

League/s: AFLW, Vflw

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

• Games [tot]: 77

• Goals [tot]: 16

• Disposals [avg]: 19.7

• Marks [avg]: 3.2

• Tackles [avg]: 3.6

• Cont. Poss: 7.6

• Uncont. Poss: 10.2

• Hitouts: 0

• Clearances: 2.7

• Inside 50s: 2.9

• Rebound 50s: 2.9

A stalwart of the competition, Kearney began her career at the Bulldogs but moved across to the Kangaroos ahead of their introduction to the competition. After taking out the 2018 league best and fairest – and her second successive club best and fairest at the Bulldogs – Kearney became the first player to announce her move to North Melbourne.

Captain of the Kangaroos since their inception, Kearney is one of the toughest midfielders going around. Kearney is a tackling, ball hungry machine. She averages 20 disposals with a career high of 31, and 4.6 tackles a game, but has recorded as many as nine in a single outing.

She also has the pretty unique honour of being only one of two players in the entire competition to be named in the All-Australian side every single season of the AFLW’s five year history. The other is Melbourne’s Karen Paxman.

Kearney is also a multi-code athlete, having played cricket a high level for many years, although she has left that chapter of her career behind as she focuses solely on footy.

Like many up this end of the countdown, Emma Kearney featured across the lists of everyone who contributed. She was ranked as highly as fourth, and as low as 39th. The majority ranked her between ninth and 14th, which is why she finds herself finishing in 12th in this countdown.

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) | ARTICLE
#37 Meghan McDonald (Geelong) | ARTICLE
#36 Stacey Livingstone (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#35 Daisy Pearce (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#34 Rebecca Beeson (GWS) | ARTICLE
#33 Sarah Allan (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#32 Kerryn Harrington (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#31 Janelle Cuthbertson (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#30 Emily Bates (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#29 Katie Brennan (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#28 Gemma Houghton (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#27 Kate Hore (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#26 Ellie McKenzie (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#25 Ruby Schleicher (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#24 Ash Riddell (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#23 Ally Anderson (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#22 Brittany Bonnici (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#21 Darcy Vescio (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#20 Lauren Pearce (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#19 Jaimee Lambert (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#18 Isabel Huntington (Western Bulldogs) | ARTICLE
#17 Tyla Hanks (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#16 Chelsea Randall (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#15 Monique Conti (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#14 Kate Lutkins (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#13 Georgia Patrikios (St Kilda) | ARTICLE
#12 Emma Kearney (North Melbourne)