NEXT week the first edition of the 2025 AFL Women’s Draft Power Rankings will drop. The initial release for Tuesday, May 27 will feature 20 players – as well as a host of prospects who are in the mix, for one of the most even draft crops in recent times.

After last year’s incredible ‘super draft’, the 2025 crop is not quite as stacked for as long at the top end, but more so evenly poised where individual club preferences will come into play. The top seven to nine write themselves in many ways, with that distinct advantage of both recent form and upside. From there, it will be a challenge to compare in-form players who have lifted a notch or two this year, or those players with enormous potential but have perhaps not quite shown that form in 2025.

A few key features of the AFLW Draft Power Rankings:

• The Year of the West Australian

Western Australia has a bumper crop of stars, with it not being too much of a stretch to suggest it’s top-end is as strong as it has ever been. The Sandgropers have five National Academy members, including four talls in Subiaco’s Olivia Wolmarans and Olivia Crane, Peel Thunder’s Evie Cowcher and East Fremantle’s Evie Cowcher. West Perth’s Mia Russo is of course the Under 16s MVP from this draft group back in 2023.

• Metro boasts top-end talent

Vic Metro should have the wood on its Country rival, with Chloe Baker-West and Chloe Bown two who have already donned the ‘Big V’ and are tipped to be high up in the draft. Then there’s a stack of Eastern Ranges, headlined by National Academy pair Tayla McMillan and Jordyn Allen. Country has players that could push later in the first round and throughout the second round onwards.

• Injuries play a part

A lot of the top players who will feature in the Power Rankings have had their fair share of injuries which have interrupted either part or full years of late. There is no secret that Gold Coast Suns Academy star Ava Usher has been out for over a year recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, but the likes of Dekota Baron (finger), Cowcher (back) and Jade McLay (shoulder) are all currently out. In addition, players such as Russo, Chloe Baker-West and Crane all had varying interruptions last season.

• Northern Academy ties

Much has been spoken about the Northern Academy in the boys’ pathway, and while it is still notable in the girls, 2025 still has plenty of non-aligned players. Gold Coast Suns Academy should have up to four first rounders – three of them as high as the top five – which perhaps overrides the fact that after that, there is likely to be between two to three from each of the Academies. Next year is a different story for the other three Academies, with the Swans, Giants and Lions all having a stack of prospects.