ALTHOUGH her Lisa Hardeman Medal win in 2023 did not result in getting drafted like it did for many of the previous winners, Lauren Caruso’s efforts this VFL Women’s season have proven she has not let that disappointment get to her.

Lauren Caruso
19/11/1999 | 161cm
Playing Number: 5

Caruso was once struggling to break into a strong Essendon side, but since coming across to Port Melbourne, she has been growing year-on-year, and is set to have her strongest season to-date.

She is a versatile player, and has shown in 2024 that she can be both a defender – which is where she was first playing this season – or a midfielder, with valuable skills and assets in either position.

Caruso began the year as a defender, mostly playing off the half-back line, before moving into more of an inside midfielder role.

If you take a look at her stats splits for her defender half of her season and her midfielder half of the season, you can see that although her role may have changed, she is still producing impressive numbers in the crucial areas.

2024 Stats Averages – Lauren Caruso as a defender vs Lauren Caruso as a midfielder

Many of the fluctuations between the two halves of her season are explainable due to the differing requirements of the positions, but the numbers are still impressive.

She has changed from being a reliable intercept marking defender to a clearance midfielder, working alongside the likes of Ava Seton and Eloise Ashley-Cooper to become an impressive onballer.

One stat that has grown remarkably is her tackle numbers, which have almost doubled since changing roles. It shows she is not afraid to work both offensively and defensively as an inside midfielder.

Although she does play more as an inside midfielder – often finding herself at the bottom of packs – she has the pace to play as an outside midfielder, setting up plenty of feeds into the 50.

These pros that Caruso has been showing all season continued last weekend as Port Melbourne defied expectations to beat the more highly fancied Box Hill and keep their premiership defence alive.

Lauren Caruso Stats vs Box Hill

Disposals: 23
Marks: 1
Tackles: 4
Clearances: 8
Goals: 1

Despite coming into the weekend as the lowest ranked finalist, the Borough showed why they are the reigning champions and defeated the Hawks.

Caruso was involved from the opening seconds of the match, quickly moving off opponent Tess Cattle to successfully execute the first clearance of the match. Mere seconds later she was at the bottom of the pack, trying to either extract the ball out for her team or at the very least stop Danika Spamer from doing the same thing for the Hawks, then again earning another clearance for the Borough at the next ball up moments later.

Caruso would go on to be the leading clearance winner for her side for the match, and only two clearances short of being the top clearance winner on the ground across both teams.

Caruso is also not normally a goalkicker, doing much of her influencing on a match between the centre circle and half-forward line.

However that changed on the weekend as she kicked only the second goal of her VFL Women’s career. She marked the ball just outside forward 50, and used her pace to burst away from her opponent and kick a goal from about 35 metres out.