TWO OF the best inside midfielders who can also influence on the outside are Tasmanian Priya Bowering and West Australian Carys D’Addario. Both are first round talents in this year’s AFLW Draft, with the pair sharing a lot of similarities, but still having their own different impact on the field. Each are also their respective side’s MVPs from the National AFLW Under 18 Championships.

PLAYER VITALS

Priya Bowering		Carys D’Addario
Lauderdale	Club	Swan Districts
Tasmania	State	Western Australia
02/01/2007	DOB	01/03/2007
169cm	Height	168cm
Midfielder	Position	Midfielder

QUOTES

Peter Williams (Rookie Me Central Chief Editor)

2025 AFLW U18s: Allies vs. Western Australia Scouting Notes

“It was a statement performance from the National Academy star who had that aura about her. Bowering’s performance was reminiscent of a player who essentially took control of the game and her infectious, desperate desire to win the match was evident. Dominant around the ball, strong defensively and taking some big clunks including an intercept contested mark which set up Walsh’s goal, Bowering did it all. Nearly everything she did turned to gold and for an inside midfielder it was as close to a 10/10 performance as you’ll see.”

Jess Wuetschner (Tasmania Devils coach in Preseason)

“Priya’s a very consistent player for us. Obviously a strong inside mid whose improved her running capabilities as well so I’m really excited to see if she can take her game to another level this year.”

Priya Bowering (Preseason, on her experiences through the pathways)

“It’s been amazing. I really have improved so much since obviously my younger years but I’ve loved the travel around meeting new people. I’ve got friends all over the country now which is awesome.”

>> AFLW Draft Q&A: Priya Bowering

Peter Williams (Rookie Me Central Chief Editor)

2025 WAFLW Grand Final Scouting Notes:

“The pick of the State Academy members in the match despite being on the losing team, D’Addario did all she could to help drag her team towards victory. Be it offensively or defensively, the teenager was huge around the ball and powered her way out of stoppages to get the ball forward. D’Addario had 12 disposals by half-time and finished just as strong with an eight-disposal fourth quarter. Boasting clean hands and being able to read the ball off the ruck taps exceptionally well, D’Addario was outstanding from the first bounce to the final whistle to cap off a sensational season.”

Trent Cooper (Western Australia’s Female Talent Manager in Preseason)

“Carys has had a terrible run with injury. Missed both the 16s championships two years ago and the 18s championships last year. Again looking long-term we’ve had a slower build up but she’s now in full training and really impressing with the work that she’s does and you expect her to have a really good year for Swan Districts as a midfielder-forward.”

Carys D’Addario (Preseason, on her goals in 2025)

“Just to have a quality season at Swans would be my goal. Make it through the season unharmed, uninjured and hopefully play a couple of state games towards the end of the year and hopefully I’m up there with getting drafted.”

>> AFLW Draft Q&A: Carys D’Addario

KEY AREAS COMPARISON

Disposal

Both players have similar disposal methods being inside midfielders who love to kick when the opportunity arises, but are just as clean and effective by hand too. The technique each uses is well thought out and effective, and while naturally as inside midfielders there are times where a quick dump kick is required, they usually are effective in both facets. While there are more damaging ball users in the draft crop, both players would be in that seven to eight out of 10 range if given a grading. No concerns on either.

Aerial

Once again, both players are more than competent in the air, though Bowering has had greater exposure in that sense. While D’Addario has essentially been a full-time midfielder this season, Bowering has spent more time up forward, or even down back. Her aerial strength is as good as any midfielder in the draft crop, and has the slight edge there, but D’Addario is strong in that sense too.

Ground level

Two of the cleanest players you will see going around, and it is no surprise that both won more than half of their possessions at the national championships off the deck. Bowering is perhaps the slightly greater groundball winner, but it is splitting hairs, with D’Addario very strong in the area too, and once she has it feeds the ball out efficiently too.

Offensive impact

While neither player has kicked a lot of goals this season, and Bowering has spent more time forward, in 2025 you would give the points to the West Australian in this one. She is not a massive goalkicker, but the way she sets up her teammates inside 50 and creates goal-scoring opportunities is insane. During the WAFLW Finals Series, the amount of times she picked out a player in space and they scored off the back of it, was outstanding.

Defensive impact

Again, cannot split them in this regard. Both are elite defensive players both in their defensive pressure and their running. Bowering has perhaps spent a little more time behind the ball than D’Addario, but the Swan Districts talent had more rebound 50s during the national championships showing she covers ground just as exceptionally. If not 10s, then they are nines in this regard.

Contested work

Their bread and butter is their contested work, and much like their groundball numbers, each are over 50 per cent at the National AFLW Under 18 Championships. They thrive on the hardball, crack in and put their body on the line, with Bowering winning more than a fifth of her possessions via a hardball, while D’Addario’s contested possession rate was a whopping 61.4 per cent, incredible considering her disposal efficiency was still 71.3 per cent.

Uncontested work

While both are better known for their contested work, each has improved this area throughout 2025. Bowering in particular became a far more fluent transitional player and using her athletic gifts to further enhance her profile. She has the speed to work into space and win repeat possessions, while D’Addario has the work rate and smarts to do the same. Bowering in a marginal, coin toss situation.

Stoppage craft

Genuinely this is the equivalent of a 9.5 going up against a 10 rating, with Bowering the former, and D’Addario the latter. Bowering would be top five in the draft crop for her stoppage craft and understanding what needs to be done to extract the ball. She plays a team role and will feed it out or bring her teammates into the game. D’Addario though has the best stoppage craft in the entire draft crop. Her reading of the ball off the ruck tap is just elite and having her in the midfield almost guarantees clearances for fun. She will no doubt have someone running with her at the top level to negate her influence around the stoppages.

Footy IQ

The pair both understand the game exceptionally well, and as you can imagine, succeed through their ability to win the ball at the source, then work down the ground to influence multiple times within a chain. Each would have their footy IQ as a strength, and they are vocal on-field in the way they go about their business.

Versatility

Bowering gets the points in this one simply because she has played across all three lines, and her athleticism and aerial strength allows her to succeed on any line. Sometimes she was left out of the action playing deep forward or in defence, with her best position around the ball, but she has the capacity for a secondary role. D’Addario played as a midfielder-forward in her bottom-age season, but given her stoppage craft, you just need her around the coalface, she’s too good in that facet.

Athleticism

Probably the biggest advantage Bowering has over D’Addario comes in the athleticism. While endurance wise there was not much to separate them – Bowering got the chocolates by a few levels in the yo-yo test in preseason – she has a rough tenth of a second faster in the 20m sprint, while being around 0.7 seconds faster in the agility test. D’Addario’s straight line running when she can power up is impressive, but Bowering is one of the best all-round athletes, which includes her vertical jump where she scored six and 10 centimetres better in the standing and vertical jump respectively. The upcoming Draft Combines will be fascinating to see how they have improved throughout the year.

Consistency

Two of the most consistent players with the highest floors – in terms of lowest output in a game – you know exactly what you are going to get. They are what you would call as ‘safe’ selections in the AFLW Draft, but that is only in the sense of they just perform week-in, week-out and are still quality players in multiple facets.

Production

D’Addario has earned the advantage in this area, but again largely due to playing full-time midfield. When the pair went head-to-head at the AFLW Under 18 Championships, Bowering racked up 28 disposals, seven tackles and nine clearances, while D’Addario had 19 disposals, three tackles and eight clearances. When both are full-time midfield, Bowering can usually edge ahead, but either are capable of huge numbers.

Upside

Both have natural improvement in their games, but in different ways. Bowering’s athleticism allows her to be involved more in transition and therefore potentially do a lot of damage on the fly, while D’Addario’s improvement can come in her versatility and impacting even more when forward of centre. She sets others up but is often stationed around the top of 50 to read the ball and deliver back inside. With her stoppage craft, she has the ability to kick a lot of goals from forward stoppages taking it off hands and getting ball to boot, as she did when fed the ball for the first goal in the WAFLW Preliminary Final.

SUMMARY

If you need a midfield fix, these two are just complete locks when it comes to consistency and what to expect of them week-in, week-out. Bowering has the athletic edge and has played across all three lines, which is why she is ahead in our Power Rankings, but if you just need a pure clearance midfielder, then D’Addario is arguably the best in the draft at that particular area. She offers far more as well – especially when going inside 50 – and like Bowering has runs on the board. Expect both to land in that first round.