LAST year, the Telstra AFLW Draft was all about the Ash Centra show.

This year, the race for the No.1 selection isn't as clear cut.

List managers are anticipating this to be more of a "needs-based" draft than last year's generational pool, and it is one without a clear future champion standing head and shoulders above the rest.

The "safe" selection is seen as Chloe Bown (pronounced like "brown" without the r), a tenacious midfielder from Oakleigh Chargers.

Standing at 173cm, Bown has had a fantastic final year of junior football, taking out the Coates Talent League best and fairest and named player of the Marsh under-18 girls national championships.

She was also named captain of both the CTL team of the year and the under-18 All-Australian side.

Bown is a strong midfielder who knows how to find the footy and can push forward to hit the scoreboard. She's got excellent skills coupled with good endurance, meaning she's a threat for all four quarters.

The asterisk on the draft depends on just who finishes with pick No.1.

There's a suspicion among clubs that should Gold Coast finish last, that the Suns would be quite open to splitting the first selection (ie trading out for two or three other selections), given the sheer number of first-round draft picks they need to acquire their vast hand of talented club Academy players.

Gold Coast has a record number of aligned players – including Ava Usher, Georja Davies, Dekota Baron, Sunny Lappin, Alannah Welsh, Mikayla Nurse, Annabelle Foat and Rhianna Ingram – who are all in the frame for drafting.

The first five players could all be seen in the first round, although Lappin is a strong chance – but no certainty yet – to head to Carlton as a father-daughter signing. The choice of Suns or Blues is in her hands.

If clubs choose to bid on one of the northern academy-aligned players, the home club – in this case, Gold Coast – must match the bid with a selection of their own within 18 picks.

If Gold Coast opts not to match, the player will head to the club that placed the bid.

There's an odd sentimentality attached to pick No.1, with clubs generally loathe to place a bid with the very first selection, instead opting to give its eventual selection their moment in the sun as the top player of the draft pool.

It's not necessarily the most practical move, but is usually the reality, with clubs prioritising the relationship with their new player. Adelaide was a rare exception, forcing the Western Bulldogs to cough up the picks required to secure Jamarra Ugle-Hagan in the men's 2020 draft, before locking away hometown boy Riley Thilthorpe with pick No.2.

The threat of bids means the Suns need to stockpile as many picks as possible within the 20s and 30s, and don't necessarily need pick No.1, with Usher having been a prospective top pick in her 16th year.

Since then, she hasn't played football, with an 18-month rehab from a torn right ACL, but is now fully fit. After a mid-year scare and subsequent arthroscope, she had returned to full training by the end of her QAFLW season, but was held back from Combine testing in October much to the curiosity of other AFLW clubs.

A powerful inside midfielder, Usher was named equal player of the under-16 championships alongside West Australian Mia Russo, and at the time appeared to be tailor-made to not only play at the top level, but be a prospective No.1 pick. A two-year absence from the game has opposition clubs a little more hesitant around placing a bid.

An extra wildcard come the trade and draft period will be the introduction of future-pick trading, with clubs now able to trade their 2026 selections (having been given a starting hand of one pick per round).

The northern club trio of Brisbane, Greater Western Sydney and Sydney will all be keen to secure extra selections for next year (rather than necessarily hold onto all of this year's picks), due to healthy numbers of talented club academy players in the 2026 pool.

If the side that ends up with pick one is well stocked with midfielders, and is keener on a key forward, Olivia Wolmarans and Dekota Baron might come into the frame.

Baron is a clean, lead-up forward with an excellent leap and strong hands overhead, but has had a few injury concerns around her knee this year. She's also tied to Gold Coast's academy and would partner Havana Harris in a two-pronged attack if she lands at Carrara.

West Australian Wolmarans is more of a powerful brand of key forward than Baron, and an archetype more often seen in the men's game than the women's. She's incredibly strong, is athletic for her height and has a booming boot.

The No.1 pick in both the men's and women's games is so often the preserve of the most outstanding midfielder, but needs-based selections have been made in the past.

The men's 2022 trade and draft period saw a complicated four-team deal that involved North Melbourne trading out its No.1 pick (as well as Jason Horne-Francis), and ending up with pick Nos. 2 and 3.

Greater Western Sydney, who traded up from pick No.3 to No.1 (as well as other layers to the deal), bypassed midfielders Harry Sheezel and George Wardlaw when draft night came, opting for key forward Aaron Cadman on a needs basis.