ALREADY a dominant goalkicker at Coates Talent League Girls level despite being a bottom-ager, Oakleigh Chargers’ Bailee Martin had her breakout performance at the AFLW Under 18s level. The incredibly athletic and dynamic forward was rotated out of the lineup for the win against the Allies, but returned to face state rivals Vic Country in Metro’s last match of the carnival.

In an enormous performance, Martin spent time on opponents Ella Jeffrey, Ella Stoddart and Charlotte Van Loon, the latter of which had her for the most minutes in the match. However the moment Martin was given an inch, she took a mile, slamming home seven goals – including two in the first and three in the fourth term – to end her tournament on a massive high.

PLAYER FOCUS:

2025 AFLW Under 18 Championships: Round 5
Vic Metro 12.8 (80) def. Vic Country 4.6 (30)

#24 Bailee Martin (Vic Metro)
Stats: 15 disposals (12 kicks, 3 handballs), 7 marks (4 contested), 2 tackles, 7 goals, 2 behinds

THE START

Quarter 1: 0:00-7:00

Martin took less than 30 seconds to get on the board in an ominous sign of things to come. Matched up against Jeffrey to start, she burst out from full-forward, collected it cleanly and snapped around her body for a great goal. She would take another gather at speed not long after to dish off to Marlo Graham who set up Phoebe Hargreaves.

Martin’s second goal came thanks to reading the play to perfection, going back with the flight in the goalsquare over the top of Jeffrey – who unfortunately had smartly taken front position – thanks to an elite kick from Jordyn Allen. Martin turned around and slammed home another which meant she had two majors in the first seven minutes.

THE MIDDLE TWO QUARTERS

Quarter 1: 8:00 – 3 Quarter Time

Martin’s first term concluded with another couple of disposals late in the term with a nice lead-out grab and dish off to Olivia Gorman, before taking a rushed shot on goal with a snap under pressure on the non-preferred side of the ground for a right footer. The snap went across the face and eventually out of bounds on the other side.

The second term was a subdued one from Martin who had minimal chances and Charlotte Van Loon did a good job on her to get the ball to ground and apply pressure. In fact Martin’s sole goal for the quarter was during a rotation and she clunked a mark over Jeffrey in the goalquare and went back to slot her third major at the 10-minute mark of the quarter.

In the third quarter, Martin remained alert at all times, chopping off a coach killing switch across goal from Georgia Tyrrell, reading it perfectly to react before Van Loon could and mark at the top of the goalsquare. Martin went back and kicked the easy major to make it four for the day after 47 minutes of play. Her last involvement in the term was a strong tackle in the 15th minute to lock the ball up inside 50.

THE GRANDSTAND FINISH

Quarter 4:

It took Martin just two minutes to work Van Loon under the ball about 20m from goal and after edging her out of it, collected the pill turned around and slammed home a fifth major. The game was already done and dusted by that stage, but the goal put the icing on the cake. Her next few chances missed which is not uncharacteristic for Martin whose set shot goalkicking is the one thing stopping her kicking even more ridiculous bags each week.

Van Loon’s pressure close to goal – when not having to compete one-on-one in an aerial contest – was strong, and she forced Martin to miss a shot in the sixth minute. Martin kicked another behind and had a rushed behind on the goalline following that the next six minutes, so her score stood at 5.2 for the game heading into the last few minutes.

Not one to just ease up and take the foot off, Martin made sure she troubled the scorers with another couple of goals when rotated onto Stoddart late in the game. First she marked on the lead and converted 45m out from goal – almost the same as her first set shot miss in the quarter – before taking a great mark over Stoddart getting up high, turning and around and slotting a seventh goal right before the final siren.

CLOSING THOUGHTS…

Martin is a dynamic and powerful tall forward who has explosive strength, strong hands and a fantastic leap. All in all, if she gets lace-out passes, or to her advantage, it is nearly impossible to stop her. When representing her school Caulfield Grammar last year in the Herald Sun Shield final, Martin played through the middle and often had two players hanging off her just to try and quell her influence.

Martin is one of those forwards that there are only two ways to stop her kicking a big bag. The first is cutting off the source through the middle, and the second is actually Martin herself. If she gets more consistent with her set shots look out, because she easily could have passed 50 goals in the Talent League this season with straighter kicking.

The Chargers forward has kicked 36 goals – at an average of 5.1 per game, which is 12 more than any other player despite playing just seven games. Martin still has another year of development until she is set to be drafted at the end of 2026, so she will terrorise Under 18s defenders for another year yet.