MURRAY Bushrangers’ season came to an end at the hands of Oakleigh Chargers in Saturday’s Preliminary Final at Shepley Oval, the top-ranked Metro side proving too strong in a 7.7 (49) to 5.8 (38) win to book a Grand Final berth.

The Bushrangers did not go quietly, and a huge part of that resistance was bottom-ager Evie Henley, who racked up a impressive 27 disposals, 10 clearances, six marks and a goal in a performance that had her involved in almost in contests across all thirds of the ground.

BACKGROUND

Name: Evie Henley
Height: 173cm
DOB: 13/07/2009
Position: Utility
Clubs: Murray Bushrangers / GWS Giants Academy

A bottom-age talent tied to the GWS Giants Academy, Henley heads into her top-age year as one of Murray’s most eye-catching prospects after a breakout 2026 campaign. She and fellow bottom-ager Charlie Gibson were flagged as the pick of the Bushrangers’ younger crop after both impressed at Under 16 Championships level for the Giants last year, and Henley has since gone on to show the versatility that makes her so hard to classify, rotating through the midfield, forwardline and back half depending on what Murray have needed from week to week.

Her form built steadily across the back half of the season. She had 22 disposals, four marks, six tackles and five clearances in Round 18 against Tasmania Devils, followed that with 23 disposals, five clearances and two goals in the Round 21 loss to Calder Cannons, and then produced 18 disposals, six tackles and a goal in the quarter final win over the Devils that sent Murray through to Saturday’s preliminary final.

That form also extended to the representative arena, where Henley was among the Allies’ most promising bottom-agers at the AFLW Under 18 Championships, her clearance craft in a handful of appearances hinting at what could be a much bigger midfield role once she reaches her top-age season.

Strong at the coalface and difficult to bring down in a tackle, Henley’s calling card is her composure with ball in hand – she rarely looks rushed under pressure, and her willingness to play through traffic in close has made her one of the more reliable stoppage options in a Bushrangers side built on contested ball and defensive pressure.

PLAYER FOCUS

Stats vs. Oakleigh Chargers, Preliminary Final: 27 disposals, six marks, five tackles, 10 clearances, two inside 50s, four rebound 50s, one goal, three behinds.

QUARTER ONE

Starting on-ball, Henley set the tone early with the kind of scrapping, close-quarters work that has defined her season, repeatedly putting her body on the line to win it back for the Bushrangers.

That endeavour was rewarded in the 18th minute, snatching the ball out of a ruck contest and snapping truly for the game’s opening goal – a piece of craft that came from nothing more than hard work at the coalface.

QUARTER TWO

Henley again started on-ball and looked to use the ball forward whenever she could, pumping one long inside 50 in the fourth minute. She spent time taking forward stoppages against a taller opponent, doing well to simply get the ball away when outsized in the ruck, before threading another kick into the middle of the ground. Her craft under pressure stood out three minutes later, a clean pickup followed by a duck between two would-be tacklers to rush a handball away and out of trouble.

The 14th minute brought her first look at goal for the term, drawing a free kick at a stoppage inside 50 and came agonisingly close to slotting the set shot from 50 metres, with the ball just touched on its way through for a behind. She rounded out the term by working out of a tackle at half-forward, able to get a kick away despite being under close attention.

QUARTER THREE

Henley started on-ball again and looked to have taken a strong intercept contested mark early, only for the umpire to rule a push in the marking contest. She then had one snap at goal from a step inside defensive 50 that sailed too far wide, before making amends in the second minute with a strong intercept mark in defensive 50, using the uncontested grab to release a short pass and get Murray moving forward.

Her tackling stood out on the wing soon after, locking the ball up under sustained Bushrangers pressure, and she showed off her kicking with a mark on the wing that sent the ball down the ground before it was intercepted. Henley kept working at ground level late in the term, going in hard at the 15-and-a-half minute mark, before earning a strong tackle 30 metres out directly in front a minute later. The resulting set shot drifted narrowly right for another behind, and another chance on goal in the 17th minute was cut off before it could develop.

QUARTER FOUR

Henley started on-ball for the final time and was immediately involved defensively, rushing through a behind to save a certain goal from an opposition snap before setting up an efficient kick-in. A huge grab in defence four minutes in showed her overhead strength, though the resulting kick down the line drifted too far and out of bounds.

Her best defensive moment came in the 14th minute, working hard in a one-on-one battle in the goalsquare to help shepherd through an opposition major rather than concede a mark. She capped her afternoon in the 19th minute with a mark on the boundary, stepping across onto her preferred side for a checkside set shot that drifted through for a behind, trimming the margin to 11 points late.

SUMMARY

Finishing with 27 disposals, 10 clearances and a goal in a losing preliminary final is as complete a performance as a bottom-ager could hope to produce on the big stage, and the manner in which Henley did it – covering the ground in defence, doing the dirty work at the coalface and still finding time to have four shots on goal – underlined just how far her game has come across the season.

With a strong year at Bushrangers, Giants Academy and Allies level now behind her, Henley heads into her top-age season with plenty to like about her utility value, and looms as one of the more intriguing names to track heading into 2027.