KIARA Bowers and Charlie Rowbottom are in truly spectacular form, and are propelling any and all AFLW Fantasy coaches who own them up the rankings.
Over the past two weeks, Fantasy coaches have been transported back to AFLW Fantasy in 2022. Bowers and Ebony Marinoff sit at No.1 and No.2 for highest averaging players, with the former scoring the second-highest Fantasy score (178 vs St Kilda) of her career in round 10. That 178 is the highest Fantasy score of the season, eclipsing the 169 from 'Noffy' just one round prior. Both midfielders have been around the mark of best Fantasy midfielder in the past half decade, but have regained their spots atop the podium across the last fortnight.
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'Turbo' and 'Noffy' aren't the only players hitting season-highs for their position recently. Harriet Cordner took an AFLW-record 16 marks against the Western Bulldogs (so much for being a difficult match-up) en route to scoring 134, the highest score this year for a defender. Mim Strom's 132 may get overshadowed by the monstrous efforts of Bowers, but it was also a spectacular return to form for the best Fantasy ruck of the last year, and also represented the highest score for a ruck this season.
The big questions of the week will be where best to upgrade your side. Any trades will also unfortunately be constrained by the rapidly depleting stream of cash generating rookies - most sides will have likely seen a substantial dip in the value of their benches across the last 2-4 weeks.
For anyone missing one or both of Rowbottom and Bowers, they're ruining your season right now, and are priority targets. Unfortunately, it will cost nearly $300k right now to upgrade an M7/M8 to the pair. As a result, the toss-up for trades will be between a 'one up two down' trade (likely at an extreme pinch) to bring in an elite midfielder, or to opt for a 'one down two up' set of trades. The latter option will probably allow you to make upgrades across two non-mid lines, like upgrading a D6 (Watson, Emonson) for $150k, or at F5/F6 (Richards, Charlton) to a reasonably priced top-six scorer in the forward line, for less than $800k.
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Top five price rises
Chloe Bown (MID, $779,000): +$164,000
Ryleigh Wotherspoon (FWD, $742,000): +$157,000
Kiara Bowers (MID, $1,343,000): +$136,000
Chantal Mason (FWD, $802,000): +$130,000
Mim Strom (RUC, $1,026,000): +$127,000
Top five price falls
Ella Roberts (MID, $936,000): -$143,000
Gabby Seymour (DEF, $579,000): -$133,000
Lauren Pearce (RUC, $321,000): -$111,000
Mon Conti (MID, $985,000): -$98,000
Imogen Barnett (RUC, $422,000): -$93,000
Top targets
Charlie Rowbottom (Gold Coast, MID, $1,280,000) - 130 L3 average
The Suns may have lost in round 10, but Rowbottom was in stellar form, hitting her highest score of the season (144). Gold Coast and Charlie play Richmond this week, who surrendered three scores over 115 vs Melbourne last weekend, and were the victims of Marinoff's 169-point masterclass the round prior. Rowbottom will be the standout captaincy choice for the final two weeks of the season, and put simply, a must own.
Rebecca Webster (Geelong, DEF, $836,000) - 81.3 L3 average
Webster has been a consistent upgrade target this season, but what makes her extra tantalising this week is a hitout against the easiest team for defender Fantasy scoring, the Fremantle Dockers. With a match-up vs the more dourly defender Western Bulldogs in round 12, you can query if Webster should possibly take a backseat to other options. However, Webster's unerring consistency, with a role that sees her placed wherever the Cats need her to make impact in the defensive half, means she has the best capacity to score well independent of match up. Webster currently holds the title of ‘highest lowest score' among the top averaging defenders of 2026.
Laura Gardiner (Sydney, MID, $1,099,000) - 117.3 L3 average
2026 will be forever known among the Free Kick headquarters as the year of writing about the Laura Gardiner rollercoaster. She has been a trade in and trade out priority on multiple occasions, but round 10 looked to be the time where Gardiner finally turned the corner, and looked back to her All-Australian self. She attended the second-most CBAs among Sydney mids vs the Pies, and was covering territory with ease. Games against the Eagles and the Dockers will be perfect for the high disposal, high tackling, Swans mid.
Taylor Smith (Sydney, FWD, $654,000) - 71.3 L3 average
The least heralded of the buy options, at least in Fantasy circles where such things like an AFLW leading goalkicker award are not considered worthy of much heraldry, Smith should be on the radar of coaches for the final fortnight of the year. Smith had been a bit of a ruck-forward hybrid early in her career at Brisbane, before the departure of Jesse Tawhiao-Wardlaw forced her to become a full-time forward (and an All-Australian). With Morphett down, Smith has been a more than adequate replacement for a Sydney team searching desperately for a return for finals, scoring an excellent 96 with three goals in round 10. Priced below $700k, she will be a tantalising upgrade option that also generates cash.
Sell
Serene Watson (St Kilda, DEF, $652,000) - 59.3 L3 average
A coaching switch at St Kilda was meant to bring prosperity to Serene Watson owners. Sadly, it brought about a role as a forward in round 10. Scoring the first two goals of her career, Watson was still unable to score above her average (61), and that was in extremely easy match-up. Now the Saints play Brisbane, which has allowed fewer points to defenders than any in the AFLW, and are hardly a great match-up for forwards either.
Alyce Parker (GWS, MID, $943,000) - 89.7 L3 average
Alyce 'Piggy' Parker lining up in the goalsquare was never going to be on the wishlist for Fantasy coaches. Sadly however, a nightmare was realised in the Giants' clash against the Hawks last weekend, as Parker was the mid-fwd rotating with the now-healthy Zarlie Goldsworthy. Scoring three goals was good for the Fantasy point-scoring balance, but was too effective for anyone hoping that this new role inside F50 would end quickly. Parker can be comfortably upgraded now, and with full plaudits in her direction after a stellar 10-week stretch in Fantasy sides after a consecutive years hampered by injury.
Teah Charlton (Adelaide, MID/FWD, $767,000) - 76.3 L3 average
Few coaches will be complaining about Charlton's scoring efforts of the last three weeks, but may be asking a few more questions now about the quality of her inside midfield time now that Chloe Bown has become the preferred third/fourth midfield option. That drop in time as a pure mid, combined with the dreaded match-up vs North Melbourne, means that coaches can sell high on Charlton, possibly generate some cash, and ride off into the sunset.
Ash Richards (St Kilda, MID/FWD, $692,000) - 63.3 L3 average
The tale of Richards' season has followed a similar arc to that of her captain Serene Watson. Fantasy coaches were similarly hoping the arrival of a new senior coach would bring with it the realisation that Ash Richards is a full-time inside midfielder, rivaled only by Tyanna Smith as the best midfielder at St Kilda. Sadly, the Fremantle match up showed that the long stints in the F50 (and on the bench), would be here to stay. As stressful as it may be trade out of someone capable of scoring 110+, now is the right time.
Top rookies
Now that we have arrived at the final two weeks of the AFLW Fantasy season, cash generation from a rookie trade-in target is all but impossible. This means that there are only two reasons to be bring in a rookie player: coverage or to use as a means of accessing a VC-loophole. On that basis, here is a list of the best options across those two categories. For the loophole rookies, there are any number of options, but in general, coaches should look to bring in players who seem unlikely to play, and with games on Sunday (or Saturday night) for the next two weeks. Essendon, GWS, Adelaide, and Sydney all have two Sunday fixtures, with Melbourne, West Coast, and Hawthorn each having one Sunday game and one Saturday night game.
Best rookies for looping:
Matilda Van Berkel (Hawthorn, DEF, $200,000) out injured for the season
Sophie McDonald (West Coast, DEF, $200,000) retired
Chloe Baker-West (Melbourne, MID, $200,000) out injured for the season
Jacinta Hose (Melbourne, RUC, $200,000) not injured, so buyer beware, she may play!
Emma Dineen (Essendon, FWD, $200,000) injured for the season
Hannah Looney (Hawthorn, FWD, $200,000) 2-3 week hamstring injury
Best rookies for coverage:
Nicola Stevens (Geelong, DEF, $217,000)
Molly Thomas (Sydney, MID, $212,000)
Aisling Reidy (Carlton, FWD, $213,000)
Tahlia Fellows (Melbourne, FWD, $200,000)
Captains
It has been a consistent theme throughout this week's edition of the AFLW Fantasy Download, but it bears repeating: Charlie Rowbottom is going to be the number one scorer for the final two weeks of the season. She is comfortably the best captaincy target this week, not even the absurd form of Kiara Bowers can get in Rowbottom's way. The Richmond match-up has been a gold mine for midfielders, and Bowers has the increasingly restrictive Cats this weekend, and Marinoff has a fixture against the ever difficult North Melbourne. The most advisable strategy for captaincy this week is to set up your side to have Rowbottom as your vice-captain, then see what she scores during the Saturday afternoon game. From there, coaches can consider if one of the North midfielders, Ebony Marinoff, Laura Gardiner, Ella Roberts (although this one feels risky) or Madi Prespakis can beat out the score of Rowbottom.
No.1: Charlie Rowbottom (vs Richmond, Saturday 5:05pm AEDT)
No.2: Jasmine Garner (vs Adelaide, Sunday 1:05pm AEDT)
No.3: Kiara Bowers (vs Geelong, Saturday 3:05pm AEDT)
No.4: Ebony Marinoff (vs North Melbourne, Sunday 1:05pm AEDT)
No.5: Ash Riddell (vs Adelaide, Sunday 1:05pm AEDT)
Other options to consider: Laura Gardiner (vs West Coast), Madi Prespakis (vs Hawthorn), Ella Roberts (vs Sydney), Matilda Scholz (vs Collingwood), Abbie Dowrick (vs Collingwood), Mikayla Bowen (vs Fremantle), Georgie Prespakis (vs Fremantle), Nina Morrison (vs Fremantle).
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