STRENGTHS:

+ Contested marking
+ Aerial ability
+ Courage
+ Kicking
+ Positioning
+ Impact-per-possession

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Ground balls
- Consistency

PROFILE:

Without a doubt, the crux of Claire Mahony's game centres around her marking. Often it does not matter if one or two defenders apply pressure or are hanging off her, Mahony is able to clunk some huge grabs and then turn around and hit targets by foot. At 181cm, Mahony is the perfect height for a key position player, and showed in her side's Round 1 loss against Geelong Falcons how good she could be booting 2.2 from 17 touches and seven marks.

Mahony is not an overly athletic forward outside of her aerial ability, but is still mobile and it does not affect her football. She uses it well by hand or foot going forward, and sometimes is too courageous for her own good. She will jump for hangars or go back with courage to try and pull down a big grab, not too dissimilar to the way Jonathon Brown did two decades ago.

The thing with Mahony is her marking is not all that defines her as she is a lovely field kick, both over short and long distances. Still growing into her frame, Mahony has a way to go in many regards, but her skills match her aerial prowess, and that helps add another string to her bow. The GWV Rebels tall's impact-per-possession is incredibly high, and often even 10-12 touches is enough for Mahony to have made a profound impact on the game.

While her hands are safe as houses, Mahony does a lot of the work with her positioning be it on the lead or one-on-one, and is able to get her hands to the ball or a position where she can make an attempt at it. She is never going to be a consistent 20-plus disposal player, but can turn a game with some vital contested marks down the line.

At the elite level, contested marking is ultra-valuable and with a booming kick - that is more accurate than inaccurate - Mahony already has the hallmarks of a future key forward at the top level. Her consistency can be a question mark given her lack of opportunities at times - though she can float in and out of games and her accuracy can also be a confidence thing - but when she is on, she is hard to stop.

The other element she is continuing to work on is being cleaner at ground level and impacting in that way. She rarely drops a mark so in a contest there is less chance of needing to impact in a secondary way, but on the deck she will scrap hard to win it. Adding more impact with every touch at groundlevel will help add yet another string to her bow.