THROUGHOUT the course of the 2022 NAB League Girls season, Rookie Me Central has been awarding votes each game to the players, who, in the opinion of the writer, performed the strongest in those matches. The votes were on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale. With six rounds down and four remaining, we take a look at who is leading the 2022 edition. In 2020, Tyanna Smith and Ellie McKenzie shared the previously named Draft Central medal, before Georgie Prespakis polled the most votes last season.

In 2022, it is a more even field, but the leaderboard is still taking shape. With a bye in the competition, there are still seven teams yet to have a week off, which will happen in the final month of competition. One of these teams is Murray Bushrangers, whose midfield/forward talent Zarlie Goldsworthy is leading the way thus far, polling 24 votes from her six games. She is one vote ahead of Eastern Ranges captain and recently drafted Hawk, Bridget Deed who has a game in hand. Also with a game in hand is Western Jets’ Charlotte Baskaran just three votes off the leader.

Other top prospects, Jasmine Fleming and Claire Ransom (both 17 votes), and Fleming’s Oakleigh teammate Charlotte Taylor (16) are all within striking distance of the leaders. Remarkable, Fleming has achieved her 17 votes off just four games, whilst Ransom is the one player in the group that has a game in hand as well. There is only one player in the Top 10 who is not draft-eligible this year, in 2006-born Lucia Painter. It goes to show the impact the Bendigo Pioneers’ Under 16s talent has had on the competition thus far.

Rounding out the Top 10 is Calder Cannons’ Reese Sutton, Dandenong Stingrays’ Charley Ryan and GWV Rebels’ Lilli Condon. Incredibly of the Top 10, nine of the 13 NAB League Girls clubs are represented. Of the teams not represented in the Top 10, in alphabetical order, the respective vote leaders are as follows:

• Geelong: Grace Purcell (13 votes)
• Gippsland: Ash Centra (12 votes)
• Northern: Ava Jordan (11 votes)
• Sandringham: Sofia Hurley (9 votes)

Note: * indicates the player has had a bye