CARLTON looms as the team most likely to select a childhood fan in tonight’s AFLW Draft, with the Blues recording the most fans of those Draft Combine invitees. A total of 87 of the 91 invitees were recorded as having an AFLW team they support, including four who supported men’s sides, but largely supported their friends or the competition as a whole in the women’s.

In the case of four players, they had multiple allegiances, with first-round prospect Maggie Johnstone perhaps the most controversial, putting her support behind mortal enemies Carlton and Essendon. South Australian skipper Imogen Trengove, another touted first-rounder is a Hawks fan at heart, but has grown a soft spot for the Port Adelaide AFLW side given the amount of Woodville-West Torrens and Croweater teammates who have gone there.

Maya Louvel-Finn might be a West Australian, but her love lies with the Bluebaggers as well, though she conceded in preseason that she had also thrown her support behind Brisbane’s AFLW side due to their clear on-field connection. Meanwhile Glenelg’s Eloise Mackereth could not pinpoint one club, supporting both South Australian clubs, as well as the Gold Coast Suns.

Of the four players who did not align with anyone in the women’s league, Stella Huxtable was a former Geelong fan who just enjoys watching every side, while Ava Bibby (Collingwood), Olivia Lacy and Zara Neuwirth (both Hawthorn) are heavily weighted to those teams in the men’s competition but have a more holistic approach in the women’s.

Perhaps the most surprising state when it came to clubs supported was Queensland, or more specifically, the Gold Coast Suns Academy. In the sense that there was not the consensus you might think. Georja Davies and Bronte Parker were Suns fans from the top cohort, but stars Ava Usher (Geelong), Mikayla Nurse (Melbourne) and Alannah Welsh (Hawthorn) all supported Victorian sides, while Dekota Baron conceded her support of Brisbane was “controversial” all things considered.

Carlton not only has the most nominated players with 10, but also have some of the top stars. A dagger to the hearts of Blues fans will be the fact that Sunny Lappin – who chose to remain on the Gold Coast over relocating to Ikon Park – was a childhood Bagger. Other prospects include Tayla McMillan, Mia Russo and Marlo Graham who are top 30 selections and could find their way to the Blues.

Collingwood is also well supported with seven representatives, including incumbent number one pick Scarlett Johnson who looks set to switch her white stripes for a yellow sash. Swans Academy member Kiera Yerbury is also a Pies fan, as is South Australian Chloe Tonkin, West Australian Lucy Greenwood and Tasmanian Harriet Bingley.

Behind Carlton, Hawthorn had the equal next most players backing them, of which most will not make it to the Hawks’ first selection. Not only did they have likely first-rounders Trengove and Welsh, but also one of the pick one contenders in Chloe Bown, dynamic Tasmanian Mischa Barwin and Northern Knights midfielder Olivia Gorman. Developing talls Maya Crestani and Alex McBride-Loane are more realistic options at the Hawks’ late third-round selection.

Also boasting nine fans from the draft cohort is Richmond, including top Tasmanian prospect Priya Bowering. She is among those pledging their allegiances with Eastern Ranges quartet Josephine Bamford, Asher Fearn-Wannan, Ashleigh Thatcher and Zoe Wilkinson. Calder Cannons’ Jade McLay and GWV Rebels pair Jovie Skewes-Clinton and Elsie Conroy are the others.

The Crows won the South Australian battle with top-age prospects Mikaylah Antony – who is also a Collingwood men’s fan it is worth noting – Sophie Eaton, Lily Smart, Sophie Thredgold and Lucy Waye, while Port Adelaide had Lily Baxter and Charli Hazelhurst as the two one-club supporters.

Geelong (eight players) was well back with South Australian Monique Bessen and Usher the two surprise selections, while Brisbane father-daughter prospect Meg Lappin has grown up supporting the Cats. Sienna Sharp has the most interesting origin story of any prospect, with her family’s tradition seeing each member select the team on top of the ladder when they were born, and of course Sharp being born in late 2007, was put into the Geelong basket.

Essendon’s seven representatives is helped out by Dandenong Stingrays twins, Mizuki and Nalu Brothwell, while Gippsland Power’s Ella Stoddart, Eastern Ranges’ Bree Horne and Zoe Vozzo and Sandringham Dragons’ Macy Watkins are also Bombers fans.

The rest of the clubs remaining sees five nominated clubs from both West Australian teams and Sydney, four from Brisbane, two from both the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne. Sadly for Saints fans and less surprising given the shorter time in the league, Giants fans, no one nominated St Kilda or GWS as their supported club. Sole Giants Academy member Isla Wiencke went Hawthorn.

Some of the more surprising selections from that lower group include Victorian Jordyn Allen (Brisbane) and West Australian Olivia Crane (Sydney), with all of Fremantle and West Coast’s nominated childhood fans from the state the Dockers and Eagles reside in.

AFLW CLUB SUPPORTED:

Adelaide [7]: Mel Anderson, Mikaylah Antony, Sophie Eaton, Lily Smart, Eloise Mackereth+, Sophie Thredgold, Lucy Waye
Brisbane [4]: Jordyn Allen, Dekota Baron, Monique Corrigan, Maya Louvel-Finn+
Carlton [10]: Marlo Graham, Isobella Hishongwa-Gibb, Maggie Johnstone+, Sunny Lappin, Maya Louvel-Finn+, Danika McDonald, Tayla McMillan, Baia Pugh, Mia Russo, Georgia Tyrrell
Collingwood [7]: Harriet Bingley, Lucy Greenwood, Ella Jeffrey, Scarlett Johnson, Charlie O’Connor Moreira, Chloe Tonkin, Kiera Yerbury
Essendon [7]: Mizuki Brothwell, Nalu Brothwell, Bree Horne, Maggie Johnstone+, Ella Stoddart, Zoe Vozzo, Macy Watkins
Fremantle [5]: Alicia Blizard, Evie Cowcher, Sienna Gerardi, Renee Morgan, Ava Stewart
Geelong [8]: Monique Bessen, Isabelle Creaton, Rain Dodd, Charlotte Gilmore, Meg Lappin, Sienna Sharp, Chelsea Sutton, Ava Usher
Gold Coast [4]: Georja Davies, Eloise Mackereth+, Bronte Parker, Aleah Stringer
GWS [0]:
Hawthorn [9]: Mischa Barwin, Chloe Bown, Maya Crestani, Olivia Gorman, Alex McBride-Loane, Ava Read, Imogen Trengove+, Alannah Welsh, Isla Wieneke
Melbourne [2]: Abby Hobson, Mikayla Nurse
Port Adelaide [4]: Lily Baxter, Charli Hazelhurst, Eloise Mackereth+, Imogen Trengove+
Richmond [9]: Josie Bamford, Priya Bowering, Elsie Conroy, Asher Fearn-Wannan, Jade Mclay, Jovie Skewes-Clinton, Amy Smith, Ashleigh Thatcher, Zoe Wilkinson
St Kilda [0]:
Sydney [5]: Mia Anderson, Olivia Crane, Alex Neyland, Grace Parsons, Madeleine Quinn,
West Coast [5]: Carys D’Addario, Ella Gilbey, Juliet Kelly, Sienna Timmermans, Olivia Wolmarans
Western Bulldogs [2]: Matilda Argus, Chloe Baker-West
No women’s team [4]: Ava Bibby, Stella Huxtable, Olivia Lacy, Zara Neuwirth
No data [4]: Evelyn Connolly, Annabelle Foat, Rhianna Ingram, Chloe Thorn

+ Supports multiple clubs