A TALENTED and smooth-moving wing, Mikayla Nurse is one of a number of Queenslanders who have boosted their AFLW Draft stocks through the National Championships after another impressive game. Nurse enjoyed a big carnival for the Suns Academy at Coates Talent League Girls level and also moved inside where she showed she can win her own ball around the contest as well.

>> SCOUTING NOTES: 2025 AFLW U18s – Queensland vs. Vic Country

PLAYER FOCUS:

2025 AFL Women’s Under 18 Championships: Round 2
Queensland 6.4 (40) def. Vic Country 3.10 (28)

#7 Mikayla Nurse (Queensland)
Stats: 23 disposals (16 kicks, 7 handballs) @ 44% CP & 52.2% DE, 5 marks, 3 clearances, 4 tackles, 9 inside 50s, 89 AFL Fantasy points

FIRST HALF

Nurse started the match on a wing and quickly got her hands to the ball. Weaving through traffic, the outside talent dished off to Aleah Stringer who put it inside 50 for a goal to Aiyana Pritchard. A moment later, Nurse directly set up a second goal with a nice long kick inside 50 to Edie Fraser who made no mistake from the set shot.

It was clear from early on that Nurse was ready for the clash, getting involved with her running, quite often offensively into space where she could give-and-go to teammates on the overlap. Her release by hand is very good and she showed clean hands as well off the deck. When working into defence she mopped up and delivered to a teammate at centre half-back, before following up with the handball receive, taking two bounces down the wing and kicking just inside 50.

That play emphasised the best traits in Nurse’s game, with her knack for transitioning from defence to attack. Once more she arched the back heading forward to escape a would-be tackler, before dishing the handball off cleanly. By the 11th minute she had already tallied up her first quarter disposal count with nine, marking from the kickout at half-back and kicking down the wing. That kick would be a rare turnover, but she would still head to the break – after a quieter second half of the first term – with nine disposals.

In quarter two, Nurse started on a wing up against Alice Cunnington and once more got her hands to it less than two minutes into the term. Receiving a handball receive at the top of 50, she unleashed a long bomb that was touched in the goalsquare and rushed through. Another handball up on the wing added to her disposal tally, before being out of the action for a little while.

Midway through the term, Nurse clunked another mark on the wing and went wider still to Molly Ferguson. Pushing up the ground she won it off hands at half-forward, where using the outside of her boot and elite vision, hit up the leading Dekota Baron straight in front of goal, 35m out. She would finish the half with a number of other touches including a strong intercept mark at the top of 50 and follow-up effort, with the siren beating her as she streamed just inside the forwardline a minute later.

SECOND HALF

Leading all-comers with 14 disposals in the first half, Nurse’s second half was a little quieter with the nine touches, though she still had five and four disposals in each of the third and fourth terms respectively. In the ninth minute of the third quarter she took a nice mark on the defensive side of the wing, and though her subsequent kick was smothered, followed up well to win it back then dished off to Foat.

Another highlight of the third term came very late when clearing the ball from half-back, kicking to a contest on the wing. She followed up her kick an laid a fantastic tackle 40m out from goal. Earning a holding the ball free kick, Nurse went back for a set shot ahead of the final break, but given she could not run around for extra distance, the kick fell just short.

A brilliant run-down tackle to open quarter four and force a turnover brought about applause from the home crowd with the game on the line. In the fifth minute, Nurse had another eye-catching moment, shrugging off a would-be tackler like they were nothing mid-burst down the wing kicking inside 50.

Midway through the fourth stanza, Nurse went in hard at half-forward, could not quite gather but worked well into space where she would mark on the forward side of the centre and kicked deep inside 50 looking for Baron once more in a mismatch.

By the final siren, Nurse finished with 23 disposals, largely playing off a wing but still getting her minutes on the inside. That included winning a centre bounce clearance, which was among three on the day. Her work across the ground stood out and she still applied great defensive pressure for an outside player, and won just under half of her possessions in a contest.

CLOSING THOUGHTS ….

Nurse is one of those players who can definitely play a role at AFLW level. She has the flashiness of an outside player off a wing, but is not afraid to go in and win her own ball as well. In general she uses the ball well by hand or foot, and is best suited as that running handball receive talent who can drive the ball forward in transition.

Nurse’s handball release timing is very good and she executes those long, looping passes out of congestion to a teammate on the outside well. Her natural football smarts come to the fore, and while she can further build up her strength to compete with the bigger bodies, the top-ager poses lots of problems for any opponent when she can burst away down the ground.

Capable of playing inside or outside, Nurse has the versatility that will attract clubs to her gamestyle, and while Gold Coast has a lot of players to try and juggle coming into this year’s AFLW Draft, Nurse’s name would definitely be amongst the mix.