STRENGTHS:

+ Speed
+ Athleticism
+ Kicking
+ Footy IQ
+ Impact-per-possession
+ Aerial ability
+ Vision
+ Big game player

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Contested work
- Strength

PROFILE:

As her name suggests, Zippy Fish has all the athletic traits that clubs love in a player. Her explosive speed, eye-catching agility and fantastic vertical leap make her the all-round package. She started her career as a running half-back at senior level, graduated up to a wing at times, then became a full-time onballer in 2024.

Fish's athletic traits alone would hold her in good stead and is deserving of being mentioned when discussing the first overall pick. Though she might not have the height of Havana Harris or Ash Centra, Fish has a great balance between the two, with the athletic and footballing traits that are dominant in each prospect respectively, neatly merged in the West Australian.

Her athleticism is evident to the eye, and her aerial ability for a 160cm player is almost a little ridiculous. She will clunk contested marks against taller opponents, fly for big grabs - even if she does not bring them down - and compete against most when given the space to leap. At ground level she is even more dangerous, because once the ball is in space, few could hold a candle to her pace.

Fish is regarded as one of the quickest players in this year's AFLW Draft crop, and clocking a sub-3.2-second 20m sprint is further evidence of her speed. She can pick up pace immediately once winning the ball and will often look for the one-two handball through traffic to get to the other side of a contest and breakdown the opposition defence.

At times she would explode out of the middle take a couple of bounces and launch from 50m for it to sail straight through the big sticks. When left unchecked all game, she completely dismantled teams in the WAFLW and while finding the going tougher at the national championships, worked her way into games after quieter first halves in her first two matches.

From a footballing perspective, Fish has all the tricks to hurt opposition sides both out of the middle and in transition. She can hit targets over short, medium and long distances, with her vision and decision making complimenting her execution. If not taking multiple bounces and taking grass, she is setting up teammates with release handballs, often in on-two situations.

By hand she is clean, and is as good of a second possession winner as there is in the draft crop. While she can win her own ball, the knock on her midfield craft comes in her contested work or being that first-possession winner. She is not the type of midfielder who will necessarily win the ball at the coalface and be feeding it out, rather being the one receiving from the get-and-go.

Fish's bread and butter is her ability to win handball receives and use her skill and speed combination to punish opposition teams. At the national championships, Fish won 52.5 per cent of her possessions from handball receives, the most of any player with more than one game to their name.

She will slot in well with a team who has established contested ball-winners but need that speed and class that Fish offers, with Collingwood and Carlton among the lower ranked Victorian sides, a state she has openly said she is eyeing off, while having three of the four northern teams also in her draft range.

Though she does not need to focus too heavily on building a contested game given her likely second-possession or outside role at the top level, it is an area that can round out her overall profile. She is also still light in frame and therefore can get bumped off the ball at times, though thrives on using her speed to mow down opponents.

Finally, Fish also has the ability to win the ball all over the ground and works hard both ways. Whether it is winning it out of defence, or going forward to find pockets of space and slot goals, the East Fremantle talent does it all.