ENJOYING a wonderfully consistent top-age season, Woodville-West Torrens’ Lucy Moore was again the engine room presence Woodville-West Torrens needed as the Eagles accounted for Glenelg 5.7 (37) to 2.5 (17) at Maughan Thiem Kia Oval in Round 13, locking away top spot and a home final. Moore was our SANFLW Player Focus for Round 13.

>> 2026 AFLW Draft Q&A: Lucy Moore

Club: Woodville-West Torrens
Height: 165cm
Date of Birth: 30/04/2008

STRENGTHS

+ Stoppage craft
+ Clean hands
+ Two-way running
+ Defensive pressure
+ Speed
+ Strength in tackles

IMPROVEMENTS

– Kicking under pressure
– Opposite foot
– Aerial contests

ROUND 13: vs. Glenelg
Statistics: 22 disposals, 2 marks, 6 tackles, 9 clearances, 5 inside 50s, 1 behind

FIRST QUARTER

Moore started on-ball with Georgie Fielder for company, and the two top-age midfielders went at each other from the outset. She found space smartly to mark in the middle at the two-and-a-half minute mark, then hit Leah Cutting with a neat short pass and kept pushing forward rather than admiring it – a small detail, but one that recurred all afternoon.

Quick hands at half-forward kept another chain alive, before Fielder got the better of her in a one-on-one, tackling her as she tried to gather and forcing Moore into a chasing role. There were mixed results with ball in hand: a gather off a bounce and a kick to centre half-forward was intercepted, but a checkside at seven-and-a-half minutes down the wing came off exactly as intended. She capped the term running hard and delivering another checkside into the pocket, where the contest was a one-versus-two.

SECOND QUARTER

Starting back on-ball, and straight into the contest – an early tackle, then a holding free won in the middle inside the opening 30 seconds, which she converted into a lovely inside 50 to Brianna Walling. Back-to-back tackles inside forward 50 at the eight-minute mark showed the pressure game that made her the equal-highest tackler at the Under 18 Championships, and she was unlucky to be pinged for a throw during a stint forward.

While it was a quieter quarter for Moore compared to the other three, she produced a clean pickup late in the term at half-forward and went deep to the hotspot, only for the ball to be intercepted off hands.

THIRD QUARTER

Starting on-ball again, Moore won a holding free at the opening stoppage and delivered well going forward. She broke clear from a forward stoppage at the two-minute mark but went to the checkside again from 30 metres when her body was leaning left – opting against the opposite foot.

In the fourth minute she stood up in a tackle and got clean hands away to Ruby Lynch, a repeat of the composure she showed all day when the ball was pinned to her. Running hard, she kicked to a one-on-one on the wing that did not come off, then produced arguably her best defensive act of the game – a great tackle at half-back to stop a Glenelg transition, winning holding the ball and putting the kick to the hotspot.

She was beaten in the air at half-back midfield through the term, one of the few times she was genuinely out-positioned. In the 16th minute came the full package: winning the clearance off the tap, bursting away, kicking to half-forward, following up to win the loose ball again and going wider to a one-on-one. She marked just before the three-quarter time siren, which sounded before she could dispose. Moore ended the third term with 15 disposals to her name.

FOURTH QUARTER

Matched up on Ellie Kellock to start the term, Moore won the first centre clearance and got it to half-forward while being tackled, then won a handball in another tackle – clean, decisive work. Running hard at half-back in the fourth minute, she went long to a wing contest that worked out for the Eagles.

Not everything landed though. A rushed kick from a defensive stoppage did not travel and was intercepted going forward, and she was unlucky to be pinged holding the ball at half-forward midway through the term while trying to get it inside 50.

The most telling passage came in the last few minutes, gathering superbly from a wing stoppage, bursting away and going long to the pocket to set up Kayla Ilett for a shot on goal. She finished the way she started, tracking the ball at ground level in the forward 50 and firing out a handball under pressure.

SUMMARY

Moore did what she has done all season – nine clearances is elite production at this level, and the fact that she generated them while also laying six tackles and providing five inside 50s speaks to the two-way capacity that earned her All-Australian selection at the Under 18 Championships.

Her strength standing up in tackles is a genuine draft trait: on at least four occasions she was pinned and still got clean hands or a foot to the ball away to advantage, and the burst from stoppage remains among the best in the state.

The kicking is still the area to sharpen. Several entries were intercepted, and the 30-metre checkside in the third term when her body was set up for the opposite foot is the kind of decision that gets punished at AFLW level. It is a technical fix rather than a fundamental one, and it is worth remembering that Moore is only 18 despite this being her fourth SANFLW season – she has been playing senior football since she was 15.

With the Eagles into finals as minor premiers and Moore central to how they get the ball moving, there is no better stage to close out a draft year. AFLW recruiters looking for a ready-made inside midfielder who can defend will find plenty to like in this performance.