SOUTH Australia locked in its 2025 AFLW National Championships squad today with the bulk of the 30-strong list boasting senior SANFL Women’s experience. Reprising his role as head coach for another year, Brad Snell will lead the Croweaters in a bid to go one better than last year where their back-to-back title-winning run came to an end at the hands of Vic Metro.

The Croweaters have four National Academy members with Under 16s MVP and Central District talent Sophie Eaton, Sturt midfielder/forward Monique Bessen, South Adelaide dynamic wing/forward Lily Baxter and Glenelg athletic marking forward Eloise Mackereth. In addition to that quartet, Norwood utility Charli Hazelhurst and Dogs defender Mikaylah Antony represented the All-Stars against the National Academy showing AFLW club interest.

There are quite a few players who represented the tri-colours last year at the National Championships, with the above also supported by the likes of Sturt’s Sophie Thredgold, West Adelaide’s Chloe Tonkin and Woodville-West Torrens’ Imogen Trengove who are all among the top-agers included in the squad.

Of the 30 players named, 29 have SANFLW experience with only Central District small forward Jyearah Newchurch yet to debut at League level. Tessa Davis and bottom-ager Polly Turner are two who have juggled multiple sporting commitments over the years and are honing in on their footballing careers.

Turner is the daughter of Peter Turner, a former Adelaide and Carlton player who played five games in the mid-90s across the two clubs, which under current father-daughter rules makes the contested marking forward eligible for both clubs. Other family ties include Charlee Brooksby (Molly, Port Adelaide) and Emma Charlton (Teah, Adelaide).

From a club perspective, Central District and South Adelaide boast five players in the squad, ahead of Norwood, Sturt and Woodville-West Torrens (four). Glenelg and West Adelaide each have three, while North Adelaide has two.

In 2025, South Australia will have a rematch of last year’s decider against Vic Metro to begin its campaign on June 22, before a June 29 road trip to take on Western Australia, and then two home games through August against Queensland and Vic Country on August 3 and 10 respectively.

South Australia’s is the first AFLW Under 18s squad locked in for the championships which will begin next month and run through until August. Rookie Me Central will profile each player next week.

2025 SA U18 Girls Squad