STRENGTHS:

+ Skills
+ Decision making
+ Versatility
+ Clean hands
+ Poise
+ Endurance
+ Defensive pressure

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Speed
- Strength

When it comes to natural footballing abilities, Bessen is among the better ones in the draft crop. All of her strengths lean towards being a sublime user and smart player both around the ball and inside 50. She even had a stint on the wing for South Australia this year, and boasts a high endurance base from which she can draw from to run out games well.

Her greatest strength is what she does with ball in hand, and teams can be safe in the knowledge Bessen will pick a great option going forward, and execute it with precision. Whether it is by hand or foot, the Sturt prospect has terrific poise and class to go with her skills and decision making, and she has shown that at senior level throughout the SANFLW.

If you're weighing up strengths against improvements, the main knock on Bessen's game comes in the form of her speed. She does not have the leg speed of some others, and noted that as her main area to build upon. She is rarely panicked and has the composure to maximise the space she has, but lacks that fast few steps that can get her out of trouble.

Fortunately Bessen has the ability to play as a half-forward where she can read the play well and then both hit the scoreboard and facilitate sizzling passes inside 50. She is so clean with ball in hand, and has plenty of tricks to go with it too, booting a number of memorable goals along the way. If you ignore the lack of pace, then you have an all-round elite user.

She anticipates plays going inside 50, she spots loose targets and she is usually a step or two ahead of the opposition. While not strongly built like some, Bessen does well to be that second or third possession winner out of a stoppage, and her high endurance base enables her to work over opponents, and then get forward to be a danger too.

Nicknamed 'Mouse' from her Sturt teammates due to her quieter nature, Bessen can be a silent assassin on the field with not just her ball use but defensive pressure too. She averaged 5.3 tackles per game for Sturt this season to go with her 20.0 disposals, 3.5 marks and 4.0 clearances. She might have only kicked the three goals - after 11 across her first 23 games at the level - but she also seems to play a part in the Double Blues' scoring efforts.

Put simply, if the ball works its way into Bessen's hands, you can seem a composed and poised user thinking through her decisions, and able to hit those 45-kicks or find the loose target in space. By hand she is able to deliver and her versatility - which includes inside, outside or forward - are all great ticks. Her traits also lend themselves to a half-back position too with her skills and decision making key.