Lily Smart Draft Profile

South Australia GirlsWing

#19

Lily Smart

height: 172cm

weight:

D.O.B: 05-02-2007

Leagues: SANFL Women's League, AFLW U18 Championships

Snapshot
Analysis
Summary

SNAPSHOT: “An ultra-athletic player with plenty of upside who has come on in leaps and bounds this season.”

Lily Smart could have gone a number of ways with sport throughout her formative years, splitting her time between football and netball, while also representing her country on the international stage for athletics. Smart has always been a well-rounded athlete, but in 2025, big strides in her footballing development occurred which resulted in the Sturt prospect earning a State Draft Combine invite.

Smart started her footballing at Mount Lofty before joining the Sturt program. The South Australian had to wait until 2024 to represent the Double Blues at senior level, turning out in all seven games for Sturt, named amongst the best in each, and finishing the year with her side’s best and fairest award. That result and development throughout the season opened up more doors for the bottom-ager.

Earning an invite to the South Australian State Academy, Smart honed in her focus on football despite going to Fiji to represent the green and gold at the Oceania Athletics Championships where she won a silver medal in the Under 18s Long Jump. Making her debut in Round 1 of the SANFLW season, Smart’s year started rather quietly, averaging just 6.3 disposals across her first three games and was sent back to the Development League.

While this might speed danger signs for any draft hopeful, Smart took the feedback onboard, worked on her craft, and returned for Round 7 where against West Adelaide, the top-ager amassed 19 disposals, four marks, six tackles and eight inside 50s to win the Breakthrough Player nomination. From there, Smart only had one game below 10 disposals, and remained in the senior squad other than when representing the Croweaters.

At the national carnival, Smart played off half-back in a new role which she enjoyed, though the wing is where her heart lies for now thanks to her athletic gifts. While again not winning a stack of the ball, Smart still showed some of her linebreaking ability, and is one with plenty of upside which earned her the Draft Combine invitation.

Click the ANALYSIS tab for more

STRENGTHS:

+ Explosive speed
+ Athleticism
+ Aerial ability
+ Endurance
+ Rate of improvement

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Kicking consistency
- Production

First and foremost, Smart is an athlete whose footballing elements have been developing nicely throughout her career, but largely in 2025. Crediting South Australian Female Talent Manager Robbie Neill with working hard on her kicking, Smart is still developing that area, but has gone from it being a liability to being a solid area, and the Sturt talent will look to take that up another level going forward.

From a footballing perspective, Smart competes well in the air, with a vertical jump and making ability that helps her win the ball in space and take off. At the national carnival playing at half-back, Smart was sometimes the target of the kickout to then run-and-gun down the field. She has that explosive speed which once she gets around an opponent, can burn them off with ease.

Alongside her explosiveness, Smart has the evasion techniques to weave through traffic and around opposition obstacles before releasing the ball. Her outside game has been quite strong over the last couple of seasons, and her rate of improvement - particularly in the last six months - would have given recruiters reason to pause and consider what she could do in an elite system.

A lot of her foundational elements are around her athleticism and she ticks all the boxes in that regard which is what clubs look for to begin with. The footballing elements which have come along nicely in 2025 can be further developed, as well as her fundamentals of finding the ball more often. Given time, Smart can become more damaging with ball in hand, and she already inflicts plenty of hurt factor with her metres gained.

As a whole, Smart would not have been on many draft boards entering the season, but after some marked improvements throughout 2025, clubs will be considering the Sturt talent later on in the draft. She is more of a long-term prospect, but catches the eye with some of those athletic traits, and potential upside.

DRAFT RANGE: Late

SUMMARY:

Lily Smart has the athletic traits which clubs love, and will often select players higher than predicted when they have them. While Smart is still developing fundamentals in her game and is more of a later prospect, she certainly has the developmental base to improve at a rapid rate, and really impressed stepping up from SANFLW level to the national championships.

SANFL Women's League

Season	Team	K	HB	D	M	T	CLR	I50	R50	GM	K	H	D	M	HO	T	G	DC
2024	Sturt Women's	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2025	Sturt Women's	58	57	115	20	41	19	31	3	11	5.3	5.2	10.5	1.8	0.0	3.7	0.0	43
Total	-	58	57	115	20	41	19	31	3	11	5.3	5.2	10.5	1.8	0.0	3.7	0.0	43