SNAPSHOT: “An incredible athlete who can play in any position, Hazelhurst embodies the term ‘unicorn’.”

Charli Hazelhurst is truly a unique AFLW Draft prospect, and is viewed as almost like a blank canvas for what she could become. For some, she is a pure rebounding defender who can intercept and blast a long kick down the ground or dish off to a teammate, and to others, she could fill any role required of her, be it forward, ruck, on-ball or wing.

Hazelhurst is a dual sports start, playing in the South Australian Premier League for netball as well as the SANFL Women’s, both for Norwood. The talented netballer represented South Australia at the National Netball Championships last season at Under 19s level, showing the potential to go to another level. When asked, Hazelhurst indicated she wants to juggle both with football definitely being the “future” she can see.

Turning to her footballing career and the South Australian started back in 2018 at Tea Tree Gully, where as a forward, booted 23 goals across 12 games. Hazelhurst quickly made her way up through the junior pathway, and played 43 games across the first three seasons. Making her Under 16s debut in her 14th year, Hazelhurst showed she could cope against older opponents.

Hazelhurst made her senior debut at Tea Tree Gully aged just 14, playing in the Women’s Division 2 of the Adelaide Football League, playing four games that season, while still running around in the Under 15s for the same club. Her performances through local level resulted in Hazelhurst representing the tri-colours at the National Development Championships, named among the best in both games as a bottom-ager.

All of those competitions continued the next year and Hazelhurst reached preliminary finals not just for Tea Tree Gully, but for Norwood after starting the season in the Development League. The double bottom-ager played six matches at that level, before cracking in for a Round 10 debut at senior level, and played through to the Redlegs’ preliminary final loss to Central District.

The next season, Hazelhurst had a full season at Norwood as her Redlegs reached the SANFLW Grand Final, playing 16 games and averaged 6.6 disposals coming off half-back. She was already showing signs as being a valuable athlete, and could spend time forward, or around the contest. In 2025, she did spend significant time on-ball, though injury and netball restricted her to eight games, but her numbers lifted to 9.5 disposals per game.

At the AFLW Under 18 Championships, Hazelhurst averaged 11.3 disposals, 2.7 tackles and a mark, clearance, inside 50 and rebound 50 per game stationed in a key defensive post. After representing the All-Stars against the National Academy too, the South Australian tall had just about every experience there was to have, and secured a National Draft Combine invite to cap off her top-age season.

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