Rookie Me Central’s Collaborative 2022 AFL Women’s Top 50 Countdown: #1 Kiara Bowers
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 finish our countdown with our top pick, number 1, Fremantle‘s Kiara Bowers.
Kiara Bowers
League/s: AFLW
Season/s: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, S7, 2023, 2024
Games [tot]: 49
Goals [tot]: 8
Disposals [avg]: 20.1
Marks [avg]: 2.6
Tackles [avg]: 12.3
Cont. Poss: 11.9
Uncont. Poss: 7.5
Clearances: 5.9
Inside 50s: 3.4
Rebound 50s: 2
Kiara Bowers is one of the most recognisable names in the leagues, and one of the most feared too. As tough as they come, Bowers is a midfielder who is not afraid of the contest.
With her stature as one of the stars of the competition, some may have forgotten Bowers had a delayed start to her AFLW career.
She was originally recruited to the Dockers as a marquee player prior to the 2017 season alongside Kara Antonio, but due to two consecutive ACL injuries did not get to debut until the 2019 season.
Despite this delayed start to her career, Bowers has certainly not wasted time in showing the AFLW world how good she is as a player.
Every year since her debut, she has won the Fremantle Best and Fairest Award, and won the Best on Ground Medal in the Derby clashes with West Coast.
Bowers produced another stellar year in 2021, remaining one of the biggest ball-hungry tackling machines. This year she averaged one clearance and more than four tackles per game, more than any other AFLW player.
She also averaged 21.1 disposals per game and a whopping 11 tackles a game. Both of these averages are significantly higher than any of her teammates, which is significant considering the calibre of the Fremantle team. For comparison, Hayley Miller recorded the second highest disposals (13.4), and tackles (5.5).
This stellar season resulted in her jointly winning the league’s Best and Fairest Award alongside Brianna Davey.
In terms of this countdown, Bowers had one of the lowest spreads of finishing positions of any player in the countdown. Everyone put her in their top three, with one person ranking her first but everyone else putting her either second or third.
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) | ARTICLE
#11 Erin Phillips (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#10 Anne Hatchard (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#9 Chloe Molloy (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#8 Karen Paxman (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#7 Ebony Marinoff (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#6 Madison Prespakis (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#5 Alyce Parker (GWS) | ARTICLE
#4 Ellie Blackburn (Western Bulldogs) | ARTICLE
#3 Jasmine Garner (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#2 Brianna Davey (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#1 Kiara Bowers (Fremantle)
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