ANOTHER one of UTS Bats’ talented prospects, Giants Academy top-ager Aoife Berry is a name to remember. One of the more unlucky players to miss out on Allies selection, Berry had a really consistent Coates Talent League Girls campaign with the Giants where she averaged 12.0 disposals, 1.3 marks, 3.5 tackles and 4.3 inside 50 as the half-forward/mid rotation.

In Round 16 of the AFL Sydney Women’s Premier Division, Berry was predominantly stationed through the middle or as a high half-forward when rotated out, and became a key link between the middle and front thirds of the ground. In a 97-point demolition over the St George Dragons, Berry starred and teamed up well with several other teenage prospects.

PLAYER FOCUS:

2025 AFL Sydney Women’s Premier Division – Round 16:
UTS Bats 14.13 (97) def. St George Dragons 0.0 (0)

#2 Aoife Berry (UTS Bats)
Stats: 24 disposals (20 kicks, 4 handballs) @ 37.5% CP & 87.5% DE, 5 clearances, 1 tackle, 2 frees for, 2 frees against, 14 inside 50s, 1 goal, 1 behind, 77 AFL Fantasy points

FIRST QUARTER

Berry started the match on-ball and laid her sole tackle for the game early on. She then gathered in the middle of the ground shortly after and took off to drive a low kick inside 50 to Brianna-Lee Wade to set up a major. Berry’s ability to win the ball in the middle and burst away was a theme of her game, and if not getting it from a handball receive, would gather cleanly and then back herself down the ground.

As her disposal efficiency suggested, she was fairly efficient with ball in hand, always taking grass and looking to put the pill into dangerous areas, usually inside 50. A kick to perfection inside 50 later on in the first term hit-up a forward in a one-on-one contest, before her last kick of the quarter was a centre clearance where she weighted her kick well but just cleared her teammate.

SECOND QUARTER

Beginning the second term, Berry was again bursting away from half-forward with a kick towards Wade, though only marginally missed her. Winning a free kick for being held on the wing, she went safely back into the corridor to a free target in a rare moment where she paused to assess her options.

Berry made good decisions with her vision a key component of her game. A rare scrubber kick under pressure in the second term after running through the stoppage was an outlier, as she generally pressured the opposition defensive setups both through her run and her ball use forward. That pinpoint execution on the move is a nit picky area to refine, but rarely would you see the ball completely miss the target or just bomb to space, more in the right direction with the right technique, just marginally off.

THIRD QUARTER

Berry showed her deceptive strength early in the third after a clean gather, drawing a second opponent to absorb a tackle, then mid-spin got a handball away to the tackler’s direct opponent to clear. At the next stoppage, she grabbed it off the deck, burst away to kick inside 50 but the defence’s spare picked it off in the only official direct intercept of the game from her boot.

Around the stoppages, Berry showed to be a valuable second or even third possession winner, often already on the move once she has identified the Bats have won possession off the hitout. She consistently was in space and receiving the ball before her direct opponent had realised and by then the ball was traveling long inside 50.

Berry’s biggest highlight of the day was holding possession in space at half-forward around the back of the contest, then bursting through traffic receiving the handball, selling some candy then getting back onto the right after a sidestep to slot a goal on the run. She would set up another goal with a nice kick to a leading target late in the quarter too.

FOURTH QUARTER

Berry’s only two free kicks against came either side of the final break, and both were unsurprisingly holding the ball calls. Her determination to break away worked more than 20 times, though naturally odds suggest it will backfire at least a few occasions, and she was pinged and dispossessed in those moments.

The top-ager did provide an aerial glimpse even without taking a mark, coming from nowhere to spoil on the wing and then using clean hands to gather and kick just inside 50. Berry added a behind to her third term major when receiving the ball at half-forward and then looked for a target on the lead, but just evaded her and bounced through for a minor score.

A couple of possessions within a chain going from half-forward to the pocket followed, with Berry’s last touch actually coming in the defensive half. At half-back, Berry received the handball and burst away to the wing, kicking for distance to half-forward that was intercepted in the contest, but gained valuable metres to apply pressure around the top of the 50.

CLOSING THOUGHTS…

Berry looms as one of those players who definitely has draft potential, and if not this year, then in the future. AFL Sydney has been a breeding ground for overlooked talent in recent years, and the top-ager has had a really consistent 2025 season, but with so many like-for-like players in the Allies squad, selection there was difficult.

What Berry offers is clean hands at ground level, nice speed out of a contest and usually the player on the end of handballs through traffic. She makes good decisions with ball in hand and possesses good vision. All of that builds towards being a promising prospect. The areas of improvement other than that exact precision would be her more contested game – think Zippy Fish as that second or third-possession winner even when playing on-ball – as well as her aerial game, with essentially all of her touches coming via handball receives or gathers.

Offensively, Berry looks like a really damaging prospect, and though she did not do too much defensively in the match, her side won by 97 points and the opposition had 112 less disposals which meant limited tackling opportunities or getting behind the ball to win it.

Overall, the midfielder/forward is one of those players that is likely to be on a club or two’s list to track because she does have some exciting traits. Be it this year or in the future, Berry has the potential to make the jump, it will just be about developing those traits and becoming even more well rounded.