SNAPSHOT: “A towering key position player who had an injury-affected year but boasts some nice upside.”

Ava Bibby is a talented tall who can play across all three lines who had a wretched run at the most important time this season, but remains a key position utility with plenty of upside. The 2025 Bendigo Pioneers co-captain looked the goods in the backend of the 2024 season, earning a spot in the Under 17 Futures match, but unfortunately only got to play out roughly half a full season in her top-age campaign.

Hailing from the Bendigo region, Bibby started her football journey with Quarry Hill back in 2017. She played 43 games across her first three seasons at the club, before making the move to Sandhurst where she got two in prior to the global pandemic. The following season she established herself as a top-ager in the Under 14 Girls competition, slotting 11 goals in eight games and starting to show the signs of being a difficult opponent to beat.

A spot with the Pioneers’ V/Line Cup squad came next, representing both them, and the Bendigo Junior Football League (BJFL) for interleague in 2022. That all came while representing Sandhurst in the Under 16s, playing 14 games for a total of nine goals. Playing alongside future Pioneers teammates in Olivia Lacy and Lacey Nihill, Bibby tasted premiership success as the Dragons knocked off Kangaroo Flat by nine points in the grand final.

After one game with the Pioneers’ Futures squad in 2022 as a bottom-ager, Bibby played both matches in 2023 as a top-ager, then went on to represent Vic Country at the National Development Championships. A debut with the Bendigo Under 18s squad beckoned and she played eight matches in her first season at the level, averaging 7.0 disposals, 5.3 hitouts and 3.0 tackles as a raw forward/ruck.

Bibby only played six games with Sandhurst that season, but booted 20 goals in that time, including three hauls of five to assert her dominance on the competition. A sole one-game, five-goal haul in 2024 was all Bibby got the chance to show in the Central Victoria Football League, as she went on to play 13 games with the Pioneers. After two goals in Round 2, Bibby had a lean season up until the last month when a five-goal spree against Geelong Falcons resulted in her finishing with eight goals in three games.

It was enough to earn an invite to the National Under 17 Futures game at GMHBA Stadium where she booted three goals. While not able to make the National Academy – due to the ridiculous depth in the key forward position – Bibby was named co-captain of the Pioneer with Lacy ahead of the 2025 season. Unfortunately injury would keep the tall to nine games – and just three goals – but she also spent time down back as well as in the ruck.

She did manage to squeeze in one national championships match – a loss in the final game to South Australia – where she booted two goals from eight disposals, two marks and nine hitouts. Not an ideal top-age season from an availability perspective, Bibby still nabbed a State Draft Combine invite.

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