The 2025 AFLW Premiership Cup can be seen during the 2025 NAB AFL Women's Season Launch at CIEL on August 05, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

AFL MEDIA'S own Michael Whiting has been added to the AFLW All-Australian panel ahead of the 2025 NAB AFLW premiership season.

Whiting is the country's pre-eminent expert on Queensland football, across both the women's and men's competitions, and has been covering the game for over 15 years.

Inaugural player, 2017 All-Australian and AFL.com.au expert commentator Kate McCarthy has also joined the panel, alongside newly appointed AFL executive general manager of football Greg Swann.

The trio have joined in the stead of AFL Media's Sarah Black (six seasons), commentator Kelli Underwood (nine) and women's football pioneer Narelle Smith (four), who have retired after extensive stints.

Whiting, McCarthy and Swann join Andrew Dillon (chair), Laura Kane, Erin Phillips, Megan Waters, Gemma Bastiani, Katie Loynes, Jason Bennett and Eliza Reilly on the committee, with Emma Moore an observer. 

General Manager of the AFLW Emma Moore speaks on stage during the 2025 NAB AFL Women's Season Launch at CIEL. Picture: AFL Photos

The AFLW All-Australian panel selects the All-Australian squad and team, the Telstra AFLW Rising Star, and vote on the Medibank AFLW Mark of the Year and the NAB AFLW Goal of the Year.

Weekly nominations for the Rising Star will be selected by a separate panel, consisting of Kane, Phillips, Bastiani, AFL talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan and AFL player movement and projects manager Lou Caluzzi.

"On behalf of the AFL, I'd like to sincerely thank Kelli, Sarah and Narelle for their outstanding service on the AFLW All-Australian panel over a number of years – their dedication, knowledge and passion for the game is inspiring," general manager of AFLW Moore said.

"As a former AFLW footballer who played nearly 50 games in the competition and won an All-Australian blazer herself, it's wonderful to have Kate join the panel ahead of this milestone season. Reflecting on the nine seasons and as the league grows, adding retired AFLW Players to the panel will continue to help shape the game and its legacy.

"Michael has an incredible experience covering footy in his role at AFL Media and has been up close to the action of the AFLW in Queensland since the inception of the Lions and Suns teams. He'll bring another perspective and different experience.

"All of our new panel members bring a tremendous amount of insight and expertise and we look forward to seeing the players put on a show this season – no doubt it will be a tough year to judge the competition's best across All-Australia, the Medibank AFLW Mark of the Year, NAB AFLW Goal of the Year and the Telstra AFLW Rising Star."

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2025 Telstra AFLW Rising Star Eligibility

  • The player must be under 21 years of age as of 1 January 2025 and played 10 or fewer games before round one of the 2025 NAB AFLW season
  • Must not be a previous winner of the Telstra AFLW Rising Star award
  • For each round during the NAB AFLW home and away season, the Telstra AFLW Rising Star nomination panel will select on eligible player as the nominee for that round
  • When several players are judged to have played at a reasonably similar level, performances across the season are then taken into account
  • The priority is to have the best-performed 12 players nominated by the end of the season for consideration for the overall award. Therefore, in later weeks, year-to-date performances will be allocated increasing weight relative to performances in the round
  • The AFLW All-Australian panel will then select the Telstra AFLW Rising Star award winner from the group of Rising Star nominees in accordance with the AFL regulations