ONE OF New South Wales’ top AFLW Draft prospects in 2026, Charlotte Tidemann has enjoyed quite the rollercoaster ride to where she is today. Being involved in an inaugural girls team and then fast forward to winning the AFL Sydney Women’s Premier Division flag with North Shore Bombers last year, Tidemann also experienced her fair share of rejection or quiet seasons to develop her into the player that is now a National Academy member and leading Swans Academy talent.
We spoke to Tidemann at the recent Sydney Swans Academy Preseason Testing Day about her footy journey, experiences, process-based mindset and the goals she has set up for herself in 2026.
Q: Charlotte, tell us a bit about your footy journey?
CT: “I think I was nine playing in the Under 10s, playing in the inaugural girls season for the Willoughby Wildcats which is my junior club. Got into footy just based off dad, he’s a pretty big footy head and I’ve been around it since I can genuinely remember. My brother plays too, so dad and I were like ‘let’s start up a girls team’ so we started that together. Then played juniors all the way through, trialled for my first year at Academy I was 12. Missed out by half a point because I dropped all my marks.
“It was a bit upsetting, but I got in the next year which was good. Been in the Academy and then played my first Under 16s year and could say didn’t play very well. Genuinely think I averaged five disposals in the national champ games, and then came into the 17s underage year of the 18s and just was like ‘let’s have a good year’. Must have played alright to get into a couple of teams, play Allies and then played a Futures game at Ikon which was very good, and then luckily enough got into the National Academy and been just training ever since.”
Q: What have the experiences been like in those rep teams?
CT: “They’re actually some of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Making Allies for me was a bit of a wakeup call. Been an underage in a game where every girl playing wants to be drafted, its obviously a lot of showcasing and the way I play I definitely have a really big mindset on team focus and playing those games was difficult to mould with the team you’ve met the day before, but that was a whole new challenge and experience which was great. National Academy was just the standard, made some really good friends there and had a lot of fun at that camp, so its been really good.”
Q: First time travelling overseas?
CT: “No, my family love Fiji. We’ve been too many times. Dad loves it, any time we have two weeks off from footy, it’s ‘where should we go?’ and it’s ‘oh let’s go to Fiji’ so been there a lot. Been to America when I was bit younger, but I’ve been to New Zealand before, just not to Wellington that side.”
Q: How’s your preseason been? What position are you looking to lock down?
CT: “Preseason definitely had a bit of a step back in terms of played too many games for my own wellbeing. I think it was 36 games or something of school footy, multiple clubs an d all that, so I was like ‘let’s just take a good break’. So definitely had a good break, then just preseason at the Swans, at the Bombers. Doing heaps of training outside. Doing a heap of strength and conditioning with my coach Lachie Wilmot, and the main focus has been development, improvement, all that kind of stuff, and with that as well I definitely last year played a bit of an outside game.
“I am contested and that’s something I’m trying to show off, so have been working with my new Swans coach Lachie (Hunter) about still honing down the half-back position which I definitely love to play. But showing my versatility as well, so he’s also looking to play me half-forward and maybe chucking me on the ball just for a couple of minutes just to show up the opposition a bit with some speed. Look I’m open to playing anywhere, but I don’t really mind.”
Q: Do you watch a lot of footy? Swans supporter?
CT: “Yes. It’s a tricky question, I support a lot of teams. In the men’s, my parents are from Adelaide so we go for the Crows. But in the women’s, definitely the Swans for sure.”
Q: Did you play any other sports growing up?
CT: “Netball. I was a big netballer, a big dancer, surprisingly. I played rep netball when I was younger up until I didn’t make the Academy the first time. It was because I was rep netballing and dad had to sit me down and have a conversation you know ‘which path are you going to go here?’. Because I was a pretty good netballer and a pretty good footy player so it was a ‘which one do you want to do?’ and I was like ‘oh’. We tossed up between netball, I really wanted to do it, but glad I chose footy.”
Q: Are there any footy players you look up to mould your game on?
CT: “It might be a normal answer, but Zippy (Fish). I definitely see a lot of myself in the way she plays, and she’s really good with ball in hand, and that’s something I really strive to be good at. A lot of my Swans coach Tanya (Hetherington) used to hone on me, you can’t just attack, as a defender you’ve got to defend before you attack, and that’s something I see her doing lots of and she definitely has a lot of run and carry traits that I try and look up to. And just because my best friend Kiera (Yerbury) just got drafted to the Giants, and playing with her is really good as well. Sadly not anymore, but when we used to play together, But definitely when we used to play, she was really contested and I used to look up to that and try and learn tricks and tips off her in the midfield and bring it to my game in the back and do all of that.”
Q: What are some of the goals that you’re looking to achieve this year?
CT: “Just development and improvement. I’m very process-based and have been for a very long time. Definitely just improving what I’m good at already. Not to be eager or anything like that, but it might sound funny doing lots of sprint training when you’re already fast, but you’ve just got to hone in what you’re good at. The agility stuff I’ve been doing heaps of work on and just goals around the way I play so definitely also improving my contested work, tackling and stuff like that is a big goal for me as well this year.
“Dream would be to be drafted, but that’s not really the mindset, that’s just if I play good footy hopefully that will happen. Other thing would be I sat down with my coach and was like ‘coming back from the National Academy seeing that high standard, how can I bring that back and be a good teammate and have leadership like that and bring that back to the squad and team?’, so definitely learning and a big goal is to be a good leader this year.”
Q: With a National Draft now, are you set on being a Swan or open to anywhere?
CT: “I’d love to be a Swan, but everyone asks me this question and I’ll meet with agents and people just in footy and they’re like ‘who do you want to play for?’ and I’m like ‘I’d play for anyone’. Definitely though just a team that suits the way I play and would have me. I’d be so happy to go anywhere, but I’d so love to be a Swan, just knowing all the girls, training with the girls would definitely be a dream.”
