ANOTHER season of SANFL Women’s action is just around the corner, and while the league year is a little later than usual, South Australian footy fans have the brand new AAMI Talent League to look forward to starting February 28. As has become an annual tradition for Rookie Me Central, we name our top juniors from the league to keep an eye on for the year ahead with the only criteria being either top-age or younger.

We continue off our top 15 players to watch countdown – which will run over the three weeks to finish on the eve of the Talent League season – with Norwood ruck Kate Alexander who has been a key figurehead at the Redlegs over the past 24 months.

Norwood Women's, South Australia GirlsRuck

Kate Alexander

Height: 183cm

Weight: -

DOB: 29-04-2008

Positional Analysis

Alexander has spent the majority of her time through the ruck both for Norwood and South Australia. Though at times she has ventured forward to rest – and kicked four goals across 13 games last SANFLW season – Alexander is predominantly a centre square player. As she continues to build, her numbers around the ground and potentially scoreboard impact will further increase.

2025 Stats

SANFLW | 7.1 disposals | 1.1 marks | 3.1 hitouts | 22.2 hitouts | 3.2 tackles | 2.1 clearances | 1.9 inside 50s | 4 goals (13 games)

AFLW U18s | 6.0 disposals | 1.7 marks | 14.7 hitouts | 2.7 tackles | 1.3 clearances | 1.3 inside 50s (3 games)

Key Strengths

Alexander strikes an imposing figure not just in size, but sheer strength as well. She is strong one-on-one and competes well against other bigger-bodied rucks, while also not being afraid of scrapping below her knees. More of a natural footballer than some developing talls, Alexander has had no shortage of SANFLW experience through her junior years and is will likely continue her role as the number one ruck at the Redlegs.

2026

The Norwood tall is readymade and with another preseason under her belt, can lift her numbers even further. Alexander has played 28 games of SANFLW football over the past two seasons, and has averaged more than 20 hitouts per game in that time. Last year she showed she could rotate forward and hit the scoreboard, so doing more of that – as well as lifting her aerial presence around the ground will only be beneficial for her going forward.

Summary

Kate Alexander will lead the South Australian ruck division this season and has the traits to really impose herself on most games – be it against her peers or at senior level. She can still develop parts of her game to impact for longer and more outside the contest, but the Norwood big is a name who will feature heavily in the hitouts column across most competitions and could build up that forward craft too.