STRENGTHS:

+ Vertical jump
+ Ruck craft
+ Explosive speed
+ Defensive pressure
+ Groundballs
+ Footy IQ
+ Decision making

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Kicking precision
- Strength

Bamford has plenty of what you are looking for in a ruck, from her athletic capabilities to her follow-up work and then ability to go forward and hit the scoreboard. What she does in the air is terrific, but she is equally fierce at ground level, applying copious amounts of defensive pressure as well as extracting the ball cleanly.

Focusing on her aerial work, it is the initial ruck stoppage where Bamford shines. Her ruck craft - which includes soft hand tap downs to teammates or more direct punches to space are all part of her repertoire. When it comes to marking, she has definitely improved that element, especially on the contested side of things, and while it is always an area she can develop further, has been diligent in focusing on it.

From a pure ball-winning perspective, Bamford has all the other pure rucks or ruck/forwards covered in this year's AFLW Draft. She finds the ball consistently and does not look out of place with 20-odd disposals on occasions, as well as the same amount of hitouts. Bamford does not just win it out of the ruck, but follows up exceptionally well and can burst away from the stoppage too with a blistering speed that few players her height possess.

On that speed, she also uses it for defensive acts, with several memorable run-down tackles including one in the forward pocket during Eastern's preliminary final victory over Murray Bushrangers. However that passage summed up what Bamford does well, and what she needs to improve on. Her brilliant run-down tackle and subsequent holding the ball free kick saw her lining up for goal from 25m out. Unfortunately she sprayed the kick out on the full.

Rucks are usually not the most efficient users, and Bamford at times can definitely have that more difficult ball drop down to the boot which can see some mistakes by foot. Generally her decision making is quite good, so with time and space she can usually put it to a good position, but is prone to the odd clanger here or there. Generally her hands are very clean and her decision making even in traffic by hand works out in favour of her side.

As a whole, Bamford's understanding of the game is perfectly fine, it is just the last execution that can let her down at times. With further improvement in that area, as well as her strength and contested marking, she can be more of a threat around the ground. As it stands though, her sublime ruck craft, great follow-up work and ability to impact when forward has her in a great position ahead of the 2025 AFLW Draft.