{"id":73602,"date":"2020-10-11T07:55:58","date_gmt":"2020-10-10T21:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=73602"},"modified":"2020-10-11T07:55:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T21:55:58","slug":"2020-aflw-draft-review-gold-coast-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/10\/11\/2020-aflw-draft-review-gold-coast-suns\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 AFLW Draft review: Gold Coast Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NOW the AFL Women\u2019s Draft is over, we take a look at each club, who they picked and what they might offer to their team next year. We continue our countdown with Gold Coast, a side that added the most draftees of any team, with a mix of youth and experience coming into the program for 2021 after reaching finals in their inaugural year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gold Coast:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>#7 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/2020\/02\/06\/bradfield-overcomes-setbacks-to-run-into-state-side\/\">Annise Bradfield (Southport\/Queensland)<\/a><br \/>\n#23 \u2013\u00a0Sarah Perkins (Hawthorn VFLW)<br \/>\n#50 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/2020\/02\/07\/levi-always-learning-as-she-targets-elite-level\/\">Maddison Levi (Bond University\/Queensland)<\/a><br \/>\n#54 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/tag\/janet-baird\/\">Janet Baird (Palmerston Magpies)<\/a><br \/>\n#57 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/tag\/lucy-single\/\">Lucy Single (Bond University)<\/a><br \/>\n#58 \u2013 Elizabeth Keaney (Southern Saints VFLW)<br \/>\n#60 \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/2020\/02\/07\/atmosphere-the-key-for-rugby-player-daisy-darcy\/\">Daisy D\u2019Arcy (Hermit Park\/Queensland)<\/a><br \/>\n#61 \u2013 Wallis Randell (Bond University)<\/p>\n<p>The Suns were able to make the most of a giant draft hall by picking up three AFL Women&#8217;s Academy members, a couple of mature-agers and even a forward with AFL Women&#8217;s experience by the time they had finished on draft night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Annise Bradfield<\/strong> ended up being the Suns&#8217; first selection with the talented midfielder one of the three AFL Women&#8217;s Academy members. Bradfield is capable of also playing forward and looks up to <strong>Katie Brennan<\/strong> as a similar player through both roles and their journeys &#8211; featuring setbacks. She will be one who can slot straight in if required.<\/p>\n<p>Another player who can slot straight in is former Adelaide and Melbourne AFL Women&#8217;s forward, <strong>Sarah Perkins<\/strong>. Playing in her third state in as many years, Perkins nominated for Queensland and landed at the Suns&#8217; with their second selection. She could provide that extra spark inside 50 and energy around a group of younger players, not to mention a key forward target.<\/p>\n<p>Also inside 50, expect to see top-age AFL Women&#8217;s Academy key forward <strong>Maddison Levi<\/strong> alongside Perkins. With strong hands and a powerful kick, she represents a bargain at Pick 50, in the first of six selections by the Suns that were uninterrupted by their Queensland rivals, Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p>Up the other end, is former Southern Saints defender<strong> Elizabeth Keaney<\/strong>. The 28-year-old will play off half-back and provide some drive for the Suns, while providing crucial experience from her time at the Saints and Melbourne University over the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>A midfielder who has been known to role through defence, teenager <strong>Lucy Single<\/strong> hails from New Zealand having tried a number of sports including rugby sevens. An elite athlete, Single is readymade to come into the line-up after a huge season with Bond University in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The third and final AFL Women&#8217;s Academy member selected by the Suns is elite runner, <strong>Daisy D&#8217;Arcy<\/strong>. Capable of reaching the elite level in any sport she put her mind to, the midfielder can play in attack or defence as well. Whilst small in stature, D&#8217;Arcy could outrun and outwork just about any opponent with her ridiculous fitness base.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Janet Baird<\/strong> is a mature-age prospect who has been in draft calculations for a few years, but after some consistent form in the NTFL Women&#8217;s competition, has earned a place on the Suns&#8217; list. She has clean hands at ground level or in the air, and some tricks up her sleeve making her a tricky player to contain whether it be through midfield, attack or defence.<\/p>\n<p>Finally the eighth selection in the draft was Mackay&#8217;s <strong>Wallis Randell<\/strong> who has come through the Suns&#8217; Academy. Another defender possessing great speed and neat decision making, Randell has transitioned from basketball to football. An over-ager who represented Bond University, she has come on quickly in a couple of years.<\/p>\n<p>Overall the Suns picked up a bit of everything and will have even better depth coming into the 2021 AFL Women&#8217;s season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Picture:<\/strong> Tertius Pickard\/Gold Coast Bulletin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOW the AFL Women\u2019s Draft is over, we take a look at each club, who they picked and what they might offer to their team next year. We continue our countdown with Gold Coast, a side that added the most draftees of any team, with a mix of youth and experience coming into the program [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":70081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3115,11617,8,3132,137],"tags":[6502,2763,157,7403,9286,5939,801,14871,10542,14870,5224,13497,9360,3001,10929],"class_list":["post-73602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aflw","category-gold-coast-suns-academy","category-news","category-queensland","category-womens","tag-afl-womens-draft","tag-afl-womens","tag-aflw","tag-annise-bradfield","tag-daisy-darcy","tag-elizabeth-keaney","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-gold-coast-suns-review","tag-gold-coast-suns-womens","tag-gold-coast-suns-womens-draft-review","tag-janet-baird","tag-lucy-single","tag-maddison-levi","tag-sarah-perkins","tag-wallis-randell"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}