Sherar snaps up maiden BnF after dominant year
WITH the AFL Women’s season coming to a close, clubs are starting to award their club champions, recognising the stars of the season.
In this new series from Rookie Me Central, we take a look at the efforts of each best and fairest winner and what led them to have such stellar campaigns.
In the final edition of the series, we highlight the exploits of Carlton’s star midfielder Keeley Sherar.
It was another big year for Sherar, which culminated in her taking out a maiden best and fairest award.
She was the runaway winner, finishing 34 votes clear of Abbie McKay in second place. Jess Good rounded out the podium in third, with Maddy Guerin and Mimi Hill tied for fourth. Such was the dominance of her win, she polled the maximum number of votes in about half of the matches.
Sherar is only 21-years-old, but you would be forgiven for thinking she has been an AFLW player for much longer given her prominence in Carlton’s midfield and how important she is to the side.
In 2024, Sherar’s season averages were better than her career average in a number of key areas, including disposals, marks, tackles and clearances. She also had career best performances in overall disposals, kicks, handballs, marks and clearances. Among her key stats, she led her side for total disposals and tackles, and was top five in marks and clearances.
Alongside the likes of Hill and McKay, Sherar is a key part in helping build a core group of midfielders that is going to be a building block of a Carlton line up for years to come.
However, with the amount of talent Carlton has in its midfield, it is not translating to goals being kicked upfield. While other sides had multiple players kicking double digits worth of goals, the most that any Carlton player kicked this season was five goals, and Sherar herself kicked only one less than that.
Sherar’s speed and tenacity are weapons which can be used to better connect the field, and the Blues have recruited strongly in the tall department to make better use of quick forward 50 entries. Whether that comes to fruition remains to be seen.
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WITH the AFL Women’s season coming to a close, clubs are starting to award their club champions, recognising the stars of the season. In this new series from Rookie Me Central, we take a look at the efforts of each best and fairest winner and what led them to have such stellar campaigns. In the […]
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