DANDENONG Stingrays midfielder Jemma Reynolds was crowned the 2024 Rookie Me Central Medallist, with the top-age AFLW Draft prospect crediting her consistency and durability for the award. Following in the footsteps of past winners Zarlie Goldsworthy and Sara Howley, Reynolds polled 49 votes iin a thrilling finish to the count.

Reynolds polled in an incredible 12 of her 14 regular season games, averaging 24.3 disposals, 2.6 marks, 2.6 tackles, 4.2 inside 50s and 1.9 rebound 50s. Aside from the Round 2 and 5 losses to Oakleigh Chargers and Gold Coast Suns Academy, Reynolds polled in every other game, including her last 10 matches in the Coates Talent League Girls season.

“It’s a honour to receive it after I got to play every game this season so it gave me a good opportunity in terms of this, to get a lot of votes on the board,” Reynolds said. “But over the season my goal’s just to be consistent and I think that’s what I’ve done and I think as a reward shows that and I’m really pleased to receive it.”

Last season Reynolds played as a forward who pinch-hit in the middle, but her transformation into full-time midfielder has helped further enhance her draft claims. In terms of her thoughts on how she has developed in the new role, the Stingrays talent said it was a “different type of game” in the midfield compared to up forward.

“It’s less about your craft and your goal sense and all that and rather getting down, getting the hardballs and placing yourself in the right spot to get the footy,” she said.

In learning the new role, Reynolds made a particular focus in improving her first-possession winning ability, which is something that she said while it still could get better, was further advanced than at the start of the year.

“I would say my second-possession stuff is still definitely a strength of my game more so than first-possession winning,” Reynolds said. “But I think over the season being in the midfield the whole time … you’ve got to play every different role in the midfield so I definitely improved that I think compared to last season.”

When running out alongside the best of the best for Vic Country, Reynolds found herself back at half-forward for the most part before rotating into the midfield for game three, an experience she was thrilled to get with the quality running around on-ball.

“It was quite interesting actually because even though I am a forward normally, like last season, I hadn’t actually played forward for a while so it was a bit of a change,” Reynolds said. “I soon got used to it again, it was nice towards the end to get some midfield time, I felt a bit more comfortable there since I’ve been playing there the whole season.”

Reynolds is coming off receiving a State Draft Combine invite last week which will see the Stingrays midfielder put through her paces at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) on October 6.

“It was pretty cool to be recognised like that and see all the names on the list and all the girls who have worked so hard to get there,” Reynolds said. “It’s really a privilege to be on the list with so talented girls as well.”

Post that draft combine, Reynolds said she would knuckle down and continue to work on all elements of her game – strengths and weaknesses – to be in the best position possible ahead of the draft. However before all of that, Reynolds and the Stingrays face Oakleigh Chargers in a preliminary final on the weekend.

“Yeah keen but nervous,” Reynolds said of the final. “Obviously we’ve got Oakleigh too who have been top of the ladder for pretty much the whole season and we lost to earlier in the year but I think finals time things can change. I think we’re in for a chance.”

As for what the side needs to do to get over the line and reach the Coates Talent League Girls Grand Final, Reynolds said the Stingrays just needed to focus on their own game and play to their strengths.

“I think we just need to back ourself and control the footy and not get overwhelmed by the team that’s been sitting top of the ladder and just play our brand of footy and hopefully that will get us over the line,” she said.

In terms of the final leaderboard for the Rookie Me Central Medal, Reynolds ended up finishing a mere one vote clear of Western Jets’ Sierra Grieves, with the Vic Metro MVP shooting up to second with back-to-back best on ground performances in the last fortnight, while Ash Centra finished third. Oakleigh Chargers’ Sarah Poustie and Northern Knights’ Zoe Hargreaves rounded out the Top 5 with the full leaderboard to be posted in a separate article.