Pain worth the gain ahead of AFLW Draft

By ZAC MILBANK

Two of South Australia’s brightest prospects have put their names up in lights ahead of Tuesday night’s AFLW Draft.

South Adelaide’s Indy Tahau and North Adelaide’s Ashleigh Woodland both recorded results inside the top five all-time since the NAB AFLW Combine began in 2017.

Panthers utility Tahau – who won the medal for best afield in 2019 SANFLW Grand Final – posted the second fastest time ever for the 20m sprint with a blistering 3.24 seconds.

She also registered a leap of 54cm to rank 3rd all time in the Vertical Jump during the testing last Wednesday at Immanuel College.

Woodland, who won this year’s SANFLW Goal Kicking Award, was right behind Tahau in the Vertical Jump with 53cm, ranking her fifth since the event’s inception.

And the versatile Rooster also displayed her athleticism in the Running Vertical Jump with a height of 64cm, also placing her fifth across the past four years.

The promising results bode well for the pair, who were among the four Croweaters invited to test as South’s Teah Charlton and North’s Amber Ward were sidelined due to injury.

This year’s AFLW Draft will be held as a virtual event from 6.30pm SA time on Tuesday, with a live stream available on the AFL website and Facebook page.

Stay tuned to SANFL’s website and social media channels for a full wrap of all the South Australians selected on the night.

The team responsible for drafting the most Croweaters since the AFLW Draft’s inception, Adelaide, will have just three selections – 4, 45 and 47 – while Tahau indicated she is hopeful of being picked up by either Brisbane or the Gold Coast after indicating a preference to move to Queensland.