AN INCREDIBLE athletic performance from Bendigo Pioneers’ Lavinia Cox saw her record a near-perfect Physical Performance Rating (PPR) across the four National and State Draft Combines that took place earlier this month. Following in the footsteps of now-Swan Holly Cooper who won with a score of 95 last year, Cox dazzled her way to a ridiculous 98.2 at the Victorian State Combine.

The PPR is formulated looking at all the indoor tests conducted at the AFLW Draft Combine, including standing and running vertical jumps, 20m sprint and agility test. Each athlete’s score is then rated as either ‘Elite’, ‘Excellent’, ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’, ‘Average’ or ‘Growth area’, and then calculated to form a total out of 100.

PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE RATING (PPR) RATING PERCENTILES

A total of 69 athletes were put through their paces over the last fortnight, with just the indoor tests taken into account for the PPR to ensure identical conditions. Of the top eight PPR scores, just one came at the National Draft Combine, indicating that a lot of the athletes tested at their respective State Draft Combines. However just one of the top 10 was tested outside Victoria.

Cox’s 98.2 featured ‘Elite’ ratings in the standing and running vertical jumps, as well as agility test, while being rated ‘Excellent’ in the 20m sprint. It was somewhat fitting that she took the crown off Kayla Dalgleish – who scored the most in the Preseason Testing – with the Dandenong Stingrays speedster finishing equal second.

Dalgleish was ‘Elite’ or ‘Excellent’ across the board, and shared second spot with the sole West Australian on the list in Sabella Banks. The East Perth prospect also scored a 92.9 with elite 20m sprint, agility and standing vertical jump results. Rounding out the top five was the star athlete Zippy Fish and eye-catching Queenslander Nyalli Milne who both recorded 91.1.

A trio of Victorians who tested at the State Draft Combine follow, with Oakleigh Chargers defender Charlotte Brewer (89.3), Eastern Ranges wing Evie Parker (87.5) and Geelong Falcons tackling machine Rebecca Clottey (83.9) all testing superbly well. The 20m sprint winner in Northern Territory’s Tatyana Perry, and a couple of ‘Lilly’s’ in Lilly Baker and Lilly Leighton finished with an equal 82.1.

Dandenong Stingrays’ Zoe Besanko was one of three talls across three states to score above 80 and land just outside the top 10. She was joined by East Fremantle’s Taya Chambers and Giants Academy’s Amelie Prosser-Shaw.

Looking at the numbers, five players recorded scores of above 90, nine managed 80-plus efforts, and a further 17 players recorded 70-plus scores. At the other end of the scale, the lowest recorded score was 17.5, with 14 players scoring sub-50. A total of 18 players who earned Draft Combine invites such as Havana Harris and Stasia Stevenson who both starred in preseason, did not test at the event.

From the State Combines outside Victoria, the next best performers were South Adelaide’s Tiffany King, Norwood’s Coby Morgan and West Adelaide’s Ruby Ballard who all scored above 70, while West Australian duo Natasha Entwistle and Poppy Stockwell were next best from their state.

TOP 10 AFLW DRAFT COMBINES PLAYERS BY PPR SCORE