AFLW footy is back! Our first look at the teams for 2025 was a sight for sore eyes and should have AFLW Fantasy coaches everywhere making changes to their sides before the first lockout, gearing up for a charge to win the car.

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The top-line superstars of AFLW Fantasy are not those we need to be too worried about. But when it comes to our mid-priced unique picks where there are plenty of narratives pushing you to pick one player or another, pre-season form can help us narrow our watchlist.

Here are some players who had their stock move over the weekend.

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STOCKS UP

Zippy Fish (Sydney, MID, $404,000) - 77 points
18 disposals, three marks, four tackles, six rebound 50s

We start this off with a rookie - Fish should be the No.1 picked rookie player in everyone's side. Playing half-back against the restrictive Brisbane, we could have excused some nerves and some dropped composure. Fish showed nothing of the sort, commanding the role as key defensive distributor to a level which belies her age. A score of 77 was an excellent way to kick things off, and would more than justify starting Fish on field as your M5.   

Georgie Prespakis (Geelong, MID, $948,000) - 152 points
40 disposals, nine tackles, two goals

A whopping 40 disposals, nine tackles, two goals for 151 points - that is the statline mustered by Prespakis to put herself well and truly back on the Fantasy map. In what was comfortably the most dominant display of the weekend, Prespakis looked extremely quick, shook off any stoppage attention and locked herself into many AFLW Fantasy squads.

Kiara Bowers (Fremantle, MID, $1,159,000) - 112 points
27 disposals, four marks, seven tackles, seven clearances, eight handball receives

Not that we would ever doubt the Fantasy prowess of Bowers, but it is always nice when someone coming off a year away from footy has a complete performance. 'Turbo' looked back at home in the torrid conditions against St Kilda, with 27 disposals (ranked No.1 for Fremantle), four marks, seven tackles and seven clearances to stake her claim to bulk time in a very full Fremantle midfield. 

Breanna Koenen (Brisbane, DEF, $738,000) - 108 points
21 disposals, six marks, nine tackles

With a career-high score of 120 points playing as a midfielder in the 2023 Grand Final, sadly AFLW Fantasy fans have never had the chance to see Koenen the mid as an option for our starting squads. That wait ends in 2025, with Koenen spending most of the practice game as a centre bounce mid, compiling a really balanced stat line as a result. As the Lions' captain, fingers crossed she gives herself more of the same role when the selection committee meets before round one.  

Niamh McLaughlin (Gold Coast, DEF, $649,000) - 87 points
20 disposals, three marks, five tackles

Daisy D'Arcy might be missing the entire 2025 season, but it sure seemed like McLaughlin was doing a bang-up job of stepping into her role as the most important distributor for the Suns on Saturday night. It have been even higher if she had a greater share of kick ins, but Gold Coast's new co-captain looked natural finding pockets of space for handball receives or short marks. There looks to be 20 points of upside for this mid-priced defender.

Erika O'Shea (North Melbourne, DEF, $473,000) - 82 points
18 disposals, 6 marks, 5 tackles, 10 handball receives

North Melbourne doesn't appear to have skipped a beat in its first proper hitout as the reigning premier, controlling possession completely against Essendon. O'Shea was at the heart of the Roos' transition from HB to HF, often looking to get short marks from Libby Birch (who looked incredible in Emma Kearney’s absence with 100 points and 10 marks) and then sprinting away up field. If this role sticks into the regular season, the 20s and 30s of 2024 should be well and truly in the rearview mirror.  

Paxy Paxman (Melbourne, DEF, $601,000) - 80 points
20 disposals, six marks, three tackles, five rebound 50s

Value in defence was clearly the order of the weekend, because we had another option pop up for our Fantasy teams, this time from evergreen scorer Paxman. Starting as the winger who would then roll behind the play, Paxman was vital in weathering the onslaught of Adelaide attacking pressure, linking up perfectly with Maeve Chaplin to draw out kick-mark possession chains. That 80 is probably on the higher side of what we can expect this season, but even a mid 60s average would do wonders for the team structure.  

Brooke Tonon (Adelaide, FWD, $459,000) - 76 points
20 disposals, six mark, two tackles, four rebound 50s, six handball receives

Word out of West Lakes this pre-season had been that Tonon was looking hugely improved, and wow were they on the money. She is a cheap forward in the game, but she looked every bit as good and composed across half-back as her teammate, All-Australian Chelsea Biddell. Her six marks and 15 kicks went a long way to building her score of 76, and the eye test told me that Tonon has the all the talent to bump up her average of 34 last year.  

Jess Rentsch (West Coast, DEF, $314,000) - 70 points
17 disposals, three marks, three tackles, five clearances

Throwing a wrench into something = bad. Throwing a Rentsch into your AFLW Fantasy defence = good. After a rookie year playing solely in defence, often as a deep back pocket, the Eagles threw Rentsch into the midfield for the entirety of the game against the Bulldogs. The kick:handball ratio (11:6) should get Fantasy coaches' interest in this near basement priced defender, and the fact that Rentsch led the Eagles for both clearances (5) and rebound 50s (4) should have Daisy Pearce keen to keep this good thing going into the regular season.

Emma McDonald (Western Bulldogs, FWD, $392,000) - 67 points
14 disposals, four marks, three tackles, five inside 50s, one goal

McDonald kicked three goals in the Bulldogs' match simulation, and then farmed some aura by kicking the game-tying goal in the dying seconds against the Eagles. Picked at No.8 in the 2024 draft, McDonald was billed as the draft's top key forward prospect, but it was her work kicking inside 50, combined with a surprising blend of height and agility which drew the eye. With the difficulty we often have in picking bench forward rookies, McDonald should get a big ownership boost after her efforts on Saturday night.

Piper Dunlop (Geelong, RUC, $300,000) - 61 points
10 disposals, 16 hitouts, three marks, three tackles, two inside 50s

Has Geelong finally done it? Have they finally found a ruck? Dunlop did not look out of place at AFLW level, comfortably handling Gold Coast's makeshift ruck line with Lauren Bella missing. What should stand out for Fantasy coaches were her fast hands off the deck at stoppages and the great working getting into passing lanes as an intercept mark. If Dunlop gets the same ruck split with Kate Darby (60/40) in round one, I think that we might now have our R2 rookie.

Georgia Patrikios (St Kilda, MID, $690,000) - 73 points
22 disposals, three marks, three inside 50s, 11 handball receives

It has been a hot minute since the All-Australian version of GP (2021), but the 'average 90 in her second season in the League' Patrikios started to peek through against Fremantle. The score won't blow you away immediately, however, with substantially more inside midfield time, a team-high 11 handball receives, 22 disposals and one goal, I think that Patrikios might be a Fantasy option again in 2025. All eyes on Moorabbin to see if this inside mid time is here to stay.

STOCKS DOWN

Rucks

In last season's practice matches, there were five rucks who scored over 75 points, which included 125 from Lucy Wales and 106 from Steph Wales. This year? Only one, with Lucy again leading the line but this time with only 85 points - and she spent only 50 per cent of the game not in the ruck as second year player Jess Vukic got some minutes in the role. Mim Strom was rucking against the non-ruck duo of Bec Ott (55) and Lilu Hung (19 points), dominated the hitout battle 33-13, and yet only scored 70 Fantasy points. Across the weekend, hitouts and ruck contests were well down on last year, with all games having fewer hitouts than the League average per game in 2024.

Zarlie Goldsworthy (Greater Western Sydney, FWD, $1,001,000) - 36 points
Six disposals, five tackles

GWS played Carlton in truly horrific conditions at the mud pit formerly known as Blacktown International Sportspark with 40mm of rain and 70km/h wind gusts on Saturday. The weather and playing conditions were somehow not the most miserable part of the day, because that honour falls on the role of Zarlie Goldsworthy. The only $1m forward sat deep forward, surrendering not only her midfield role to a mix of Taylah Levy ant Kaitlyn Srhoj, but her Fantasy scoring too. it is nearly impossible to pick Goldsworthy after that performance, as sad as that is to say for one of the game's most exciting scorers on her day.

Chloe Molloy (Sydney, FWD, $891,000) - 15 points
Five disposals

There was a forward for Sydney who looked excellent playing as a hybrid midfielder and centre half-forward on Saturday afternoon against Brisbane. Unfortunately, it was Montana Ham and not popular forward premium Molloy. Things went from bad to worse for Molloy's Fantasy prospects when she then rested the second half. While not completely surprising as she is returning from an ACL injury, but this spells the end to Molloy as a starting pick.

Isabel Bacon (Richmond, DEF, $321,000) - 20 points
Four disposals, one mark, three tackles

Sadly, it's a case of the scoring and the role not lining up for Bacon, who had been many coaches' pick as their bench defender. The midfield time was certainly there, but what was concerning was the inability to locate the football, only managing four disposals. Richmond's coaching staff will surely not be carrying forward their Hawthorn game plan into round one, after they were smashed at stoppage (-10) and allowed 40 inside 50s to their own 19.  

Sarah Goodwin (Adelaide, DEF, $752,000) - 49 points
12 disposals, one mark, three tackles

While 49 is not a terrible score, it was just not what many coaches had hoped for after hearing that Goodwin would get a midfield role for the Crows. It materialised that the role in question was much more of a secondary/tertiary layer wing and outside midfield role, and Goodwin didn't excel Fantasy scoring wise. She might become that better scorer with some more experience, but I won't be picking her after what I saw against Melbourne.

Dom Carruthers (Western Bulldogs, FWD, $753,000) - 28 points
11 disposals, four tackles, five frees against, three clearances

With Isabelle Pritchard set to miss the early portion of the season, all eyes were focussed on who might replace her minutes in the midfield. Carruthers was certainly playing in the right role, but it was not her scoring day. The Bulldogs overall were struggling to score consistently, and Carruthers' score of 28 was one of many that were below expectation. It certainly does not help to have five frees against.

Darcy Vescio (Carlton, FWD, $469,000) - 66 points
15 disposals, four marks, three tackles

The 66 Fantasy points are definitely a positive. It was the role that was alarming for Vescio against GWS, as they were switched forward in the second half of the game. They still scored 34 points in the second half playing higher up the ground, but it is not the high-floor half-back role that most coaches would want to see.

STOCK HOLDING?

Ash Centra (Collingwood, MID, $420,000)

Collingwood ended its 2025 pre-season campaign with a 14-point win over Port Adelaide. Sadly, that pre-season campaign has not included any action for the No.1 draft pick, and the most selected AFLW Fantasy rookie, Ash Centra. She was named to play Port but was held out of the match-up with some minor niggles. It sounds like Collingwood was just being conservative, so Centra should still suit up for round one. It certainly cannot be stocks up given we haven't seen her play at all, but stocks also aren't completely down, particularly when taking into account her elite junior scoring pedigree. We now have just over a week to decide whether to pick Centra, sight unseen, for our starting teams.

Ebony Marinoff (Adelaide, MID, $1,878,000) - 120 points
Three marks, nine tackles, nine clearances, seven inside 50s

'Noffy' barely appeared to be out of second gear against the Demons, and still managed a very Marinoff-like statline. With the new rule changes for holding the ball and faster ruck contests, I have some concerns about potential lower scoring from contested possession oriented players. Marinoff seemed completely inoculated from those effects, and should still be the best scoring midfielder in the competition. 

Charlotte Thomas (West Coast, DEF, $911,000) - 74 points
16 disposals, six marks, four tackles

My stat around lower scoring for Thomas in the Eagles' 2024 victories compared to their losses (64.7 in wins v 73.6 in their losses) doesn't count when the game is a draw. At least that is how I am choosing to see it. I personally don’t feel like there is a stack of value for Thomas as a starting pick, but a 73 didn't do her chances of repeating as a top-five defender any harm.

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