ANOTHER season of SANFL Women’s action is just around the corner, and while the league year is a little later than usual, South Australian footy fans have the brand new AAMI Talent League to look forward to starting February 28. As has become an annual tradition for Rookie Me Central, we name our top juniors from the league to keep an eye on for the year ahead with the only criteria being either top-age or younger.

We continue our top 15 players to watch countdown – which will run over the three weeks to finish on the eve of the Talent League season – with Woodville-West Torrens speedy midfielder Lucy Moore won won her side’s MVP in the Under 17 National Futures match.

South Australia Girls, Eagles Women'sMidfielder

Lucy Moore

Height: 164cm

Weight: -

DOB: 30-04-2008

Positional Analysis

Moore thrives in the middle with her ability to extract the ball from the stoppage, but has proven herself up forward too. Though not overly tall, the Eagles youngster rotated on-ball in the absence of key teammates last season, then held her place and was one of the most impressive bottom-agers throughout the SANFLW competition. For South Australia, she played a similar role, and showed she could hold her own against both her peers and older opponents.

2025 Stats

SANFLW | 16.7 disposals | 0.4 marks | 7.3 tackles | 5.6 clearances | 2.9 inside 50s | 1.0 rebound 50s | 1 goal (14 games)

AFLW U18s | 16.3 disposals | 1.5 marks | 5.0 tackles | 3.3 clearances | 2.8 inside 50s | 1 goal (4 games)

Key Strengths

As is evident from the numbers, Moore is a terrific defensive player, particularly in close, where she locks onto an opponent and tackles with vigour. While she can easily do that – and even play a shutdown role – her most impact comes when able to read the taps and explode from the stoppage. A fast few steps sees the Eagles jet burst away then kick forward, with her ability to be a first, second or third-possession winner.

2026

Moore is not necessarily a stat-stuffing ball-winner, but she can find it and make the most of it too. Her best work comes around the coalface and she is very clever at taking it at speed, finding room through traffic and putting the ball inside 50. She did not kick many goals – just one in each competition – and is not a strong overhead mark, but once she has the ball, she inflicts plenty of damage. If she can round out some of the other aspects in her game to complement her athletic prowess and offensive-defensive balance, she will only get better.

Summary

Lucy Moore is one of the more unlucky players to miss out on the National Academy, having earned best afield honours for her side in the Under 17 National Futures Girls trial match. Despite that knock back, expect Moore to focus on proving plenty wrong, with more than enough talent to match it with some of the best in the draft, as she showed through that contest and the 2025 season.