AFLW trade news: Madison Prespakis on move to Bombers; Emily Bates considering rival offers, Isabel Huntington requests trade
The Bombers have landed one of the big fish of the competition in a huge deal. Get the latest AFLW trade and signing news here.
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Madison Prespakis says the opportunity to move to Essendon is a “chance to live out a childhood dream”.
The Carlton star and former No. 1 draft pick was on Monday night revealed to be on the move to expansion AFL Women’s club Essendon, alongside Blues teammate Georgia Gee in a stunning one-two punch by one of the competition’s newest outfits.
Prespakis, 21, is set to cash in on a huge offer, understood to be worth six figures, that the Blues simply could not match.
She said it was too good an opportunity to refuse as she looks to “get better in all aspects of my life”.
“I’ve enjoyed my time both on and off the field at this amazing club,” she said on Monday night, thanking club staff, coaches and her Carlton teammates.
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“As an athlete/individual I want to keep striving to get better in all aspects of my life. I truly believe that this next step is the right one for me.
“I’m very excited to begin my next chapter as an AFLW player with Essendon. Growing up as a Bombers fan, this is a chance to live out a childhood dream and don the sash.”
Both deals are set to be officially sealed when the AFLW sign and trade period opens.
Prespakis has committed to Essendon in the biggest trade move of the AFL Women’s off-season so far.
The league best and fairest-winning midfielder’s monster deal is understood to be for two years.
Prespakis grew up a staunch Bombers supporter in Melbourne’s north.
Marquee player deals are permitted to include further incentives beyond simply a playing contract and can stretch well into six figures.
The star only days ago claimed the Blues’ best-and-fairest award.
Prespakis said after her best-and-fairest win that she is determined to become a “legacy” player in AFL Women’s “for the footy club I play at”.
“I just want to keep getting better,” she said.
“When I finish playing footy, I want to be someone like Daisy Pearce and Erin Phillips and leave a legacy for my name and for the footy club I play at.
“(My aim is) definitely to keep getting better every year, keep getting fitter and stronger and keep working on my game, because I’m only 21 and I’d like to think I’ve still got another 10 years ahead of me.”
Prespakis has played 34 games for Carlton while Gee — a 2019 rising star nominee — has played 30 games.
Carlton women’s football boss Brett Munro said that the club simply couldn’t compete with the “significant” offers on the table.
“That has its positives for the AFLW competition as a whole but for existing clubs, it places you in an unavoidably tough situation in terms of being able to compete with those offers,” he said.
“You never want to lose good players, you want to do everything possible to keep them, however it has to be within reason.
“We have been detailed with our strategy in how we’ve gone about building this playing list, through the draft, to now having the youngest list in the competition that we believe will set ourselves up for sustained success.
“To compromise that strategy entirely for the possibility of retaining a player would have put that long term goal at risk, which would not have been in the best interest of the football club.”
Expansion clubs cannot officially sign players until the upcoming sign and trade period, but intentions to sign are allowed.
Clubs are permitted to allow for marketing and promotional payments of up to $100,000 under an Additional Services Agreement pool, with the top two players at each club excluded from that cap and permitted to earn as much as they can.
With stars Ellie Blackburn and Ash Riddell recommitting to the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne respectively after big plays from Sydney, the Swans are also likely to miss out on Collingwood trio Sarah Rowe, Britanny Bonnici and Ruby Schleicher, all of whom had been on their radar to varying degrees.
Sydney will however land Greater Western Sydney key forward Rebecca Privitelli, and are in contention to acquire Giant young gun Ally Morphett — a deal which may need to be orchestrated via a trade depending on yet to be finalised rules safeguarding younger players.
The respective futures of Kaitlyn Ashmore and Daisy Bateman are also unclear after the pair were made to wait on new deals from the Roos.
Industry sources are strongly linking North winger Ashmore to Essendon. St Kilda veteran Cat Phillips shapes as a potential replacement for Ashmore should she depart to the Bombers.
League best and fairest winner Emily Bates also emerged as a potential target for rival clubs, with teammates Natalie Grider and Greta Bodey also among Lions believed to be potentially up for grabs.
Premiership captain Emma Zielke has come out of retirement, playing in the QAFLW on Saturday, a potential precursor to an AFLW return.
Rival clubs expect Port to sign superstar Erin Phillips for a homecoming to Alberton, while grand final best and fairest Anne Hatchard is also being privately linked to a move to Port, who will unveil their coach this week. Former Blue and Lions player Lauren Arnell is among the key contenders.
AFLW trade news: Poachers eye award-winning Lion
Reigning AFL Women’s best-and-fairest winner Emily Bates is reportedly considering her playing future.
As recently as this week, key Brisbane figures were hopeful that she would remain a Lion, but multiple clubs are circling the star midfielder.
“I reckon we’ll be OK,” one senior Lions official told the Herald Sun, but the All-Australian has a number of offers to consider.
Marquee spots at Hawthorn is up for grabs and Bates – who this week scooped the pool winning the league best and fairest, coaches’ award and players’ MVP – could be a prime target.
The Hawks are also keen on Irish Roo Aileen Gilroy.
Bates could yet re-sign with the Lions as she weighs up her options from a number of Victorian clubs that have expressed interest.
Lions coach Craig Starcevich this week lashed the league expansion rules that could see a raft of players from existing clubs depart in the upcoming sign and trade period.
“If it’s going to happen again now then it’s fine to say the competition needs to expand and we need players going here and there, but it never helps us. It never helps us,” Starcevich said.
“Because we’re the ones who put all the time and effort in developing players, developing relationships and then what do you do? Just go and pull the rug out from … it drives me frickin’ mad.”
Expansion clubs will be permitted to sign up to 14 players from existing AFLW clubs.
Record-breaker turns back on expansion move
North Melbourne playmaker Ash Riddell has turned her back on expansion and will stay at Arden Street.
Riddell had been a target of expansion club Sydney which put an offer to the 26-year-old — who has played 30 games at the Kangaroos and broke the record for most disposals in an AFLW game with 42 touches in Round 10 — but the ballwinner has chosen loyalty over any lure north.
Riddell only this week earned her second All-Australian nod.
It is understood that Riddell will stay at Arden Street on a two-year deal.
Expansion clubs are continuing their hunt for AFLW talent, with Hawthorn understood to be keen on Irish Roo Aileen Gilroy.
Each expansion club can sign up to 14 players from existing AFLW clubs once the sign and trade period opens.
Dons table huge offer to Blues star, Dog requests move
Essendon has made a substantial offer to Carlton young gun Madison Prespakis.
The expansion club has been circling the 2020 AFLW best and fairest winner, who grew up as a staunch Bombers supporter in Melbourne’s north.
Prespakis, who claimed Carlton’s best and fairest award on Thursday night, has offers from both Essendon and the Blues to consider as she weighs up where her playing future lies.
It is understood that the Bombers offer is as a marquee player and thus includes further incentives beyond simply a playing contract.
Prespakis, 21, said after her best and fairest win that she is determined to become a “legacy” player in AFL Women’s.
“I just want to keep getting better,” she said.
“When I finish playing footy, I want to be someone like Daisy Pearce and Erin Phillips and leave a legacy for my name and for the footy club I play at.
“(My aim is) definitely to keep getting better every year, keep getting fitter and stronger and keep working on my game, because I’m only 21 and I’d like to think I’ve still got another 10 years ahead of me.”
Carlton figures remain unsure of Prespakis’ plans in light of the monster Bombers offer.
A diehard Essendon supporter growing up, she told Leader in 2017 she hoped the Bombers would one day receive an AFLW licence.
“I follow Essendon so it would be great if they could get a licence,” she said at the time.
Clubs are permitted to allow for marketing and promotional payments of up to $100,000 under an Additional Services Agreement pool, with the top two players at each club excluded from that cap and permitted to earn as much as they can.
Industry sources have been left staggered by some of the figures thrown around in the lead-up to the upcoming trade period, which are feared to leave clubs vulnerable when players are due to be re-signed in coming years.
DOGS STAR REQUESTS MOVE NORTH
Western Bulldogs star Isabel Huntington has officially requested a trade to Greater Western Sydney.
The 23-year-old, who is currently recovering from a third ACL tear, has today revealed her plans to move to the harbour city which the club said is “for education and non-football related reasons”.
Huntington said while it was an “incredibly difficult decision”, she had realised that the part-time nature of AFLW meant she had to consider the rest of her life in the process.
“Ultimately, the decision to move is not football related,” the young gun said.
“Having recently begun the long rehab process for my third ACL injury, in combination with the current part-time nature of the competition, it’s become increasingly clear to me that I can’t make life decisions solely based on football. With the opportunity to progress my studies and off-field work interstate, it is the right move for me at this time.
“I have absolutely adored my time at the Bulldogs across the past five years. I couldn’t be more thankful for what they have done for me and the connections I have built there. Pulling on the jumper 20 times with my teammates was an honour, and being involved in off-field endeavours such as working with the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation was equally memorable.”
Huntington, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, said she would be “eternally grateful” for her time at the Dogs.
Bulldogs football boss Debbie Lee said it was “disappointing to lose someone like Izzy”.
“(She) has been a strong performer on field and an established leader off it, and with such a bright future as a player ahead of her,” Lee said.
“We fully understand Izzy’s need to move to Sydney for education and non-football related reasons, and we wish her well as she embarks the next stage on her football journey.
“Given Izzy’s standing in the game, her achievements to date and the club’s investment in her development, we’ll work hard to ensure we are appropriately compensated through the AFLW’s player movement structure.”
The AFL will soon reveal the dates for the sign and trade period, which is also expected to include a specific period for expansion clubs.
PHILLIPS TIGHT-LIPPED ON POWER PLAY
Port Adelaide could unveil its inaugural AFLW coach as early as Monday.
It’s understood the Power has settled on its choice after setting its sights on luring a recently-retired AFLW player to South Australia to take the role.
Moneyball is hearing that former Carlton captain and Brisbane premiership player Lauren Arnell is a red-hot favourite.
Collingwood women’s coach Steve Symonds had been linked to the role, along with a number of SANFLW head coaches, but Symonds made it known last week he would not be returning to Adelaide and was staying with the Magpies.
Whoever is appointed coach will be surrounded by quality assistants, with Port having canvassed recently-retired AFL players, as well as athletes from other sports, to join the club.
It’s understood Port wants to kick off its player announcements by unveiling high-profile, currently-listed AFLW players, but will hold off until the AFL finalises dates for the AFLW sign and trade period.
It’s widely expected that Crows star Erin Phillips will join Port after six successful seasons with Adelaide, joining the club where her father Greg enjoyed immense success.
But Phillips – the AFLW’s most decorated player – has remained tight-lipped on the speculation, instead focusing on trying to win her third premiership in the Crows tricolours against Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Port Adelaide was granted a licence to join the AFLW last year, and since then has been vocal in its wishes to appoint a female coach for its women’s team and has already appointed Olympic hockey player Juliet Haslam as its Head of AFLW, and Olympic basketballer Rachael Sporn as its AFLW Operations Manager.
CROWS TRIO’S SHOCK SIGNING MOVE
Saturday looms as what could potentially be Erin Phillips’ last game as a Crow.
But it might not be the cross-town rival that you think that could first have the superstar player in its guernsey.
The basketball court, not a Port Adelaide AFLW guernsey, could be where Phillips turns next.
The two-time Olympic basketballer is expected to make a surprise return to the round ball in the AFLW off-season, signing up as a star recruit for the West Adelaide Bearcats — the club she played for as a junior.
And she’s taking a couple of Adelaide players to the hardcourt with her, with W-Award runner-up Anne Hatchard and rookie Jasmine Simmons also signing to play with the Bearcats.
Hatchard was a talented basketballer before turning to footy and has played for both Sturt and South Adelaide in the local league, while Simmons captained the Australian Under-17s side to a World Championship in 2016, and returned from the United States in 2021 after a stint playing college ‘ball with Oregon State University.
Simmons, 23, was signed as a rookie by the Crows and she’s played four games for the grand finalists this season.
But in a twist, the West Adelaide Bearcats are now connected to the Port Adelaide Football Club’s $30m redevelopment at Alberton Oval, with approved plans having two basketball courts built for use by the Bearcats.
But Phillips, who many believe will follow in her father Greg’s footsteps by joining the new Port Adelaide ALW outfit, said she was completely unaware that her junior basketball club would have a connection to Alberton.
Instead, she said she was excited to return to basketball, a game she loved.
Hatchard, who lost out to Emily Bates for the W-Award on Tuesday night by the slimmest of margins, said she’d also missed playing basketball.
“It was the sport I grew up playing and while I do really, really love football, it’d be nice to pick up a basketball again,” Hatchard said.
The Crows trio will need to wait for the AFL to announce when the next season of the AFLW competition will start before being able to commit to playing out the full local basketball competition.
If the seventh season of the AFLW starts in August, as widely tipped, it could limit how much basketball they can play.
Hatchard explains: “It will just depend on when the season for next year starts … I was planning on playing basketball in the off-season but I’ve just got to get my body right and if there is an opportunity to play some basketball with those two girls, it would just be awesome.”
MONEY TALKS
Female players are set to meet on Wednesday as collective bargaining agreement negotiations ramp up.
The AFL Commission held a morning tea on Tuesday with AFLW captains ahead of the W Awards on Tuesday night.
The players’ association gathering on Wednesday is set to both educate and encourage feedback from players on a range of issues including the proposed August season start and the challenges that face them.
Watch this space closely as there is plenty still to play out.
LEGEND’S COACHING CALL
As Greater Western Sydney looks to secure its AFLW senior coach, former Saints leader and women’s football stalwart Peta Searle had a suggestion.
“I would love to see Alicia Eva to be the Giants AFLW head coach as playing coach with strong assistant,” she wrote on Twitter.
Eva has spent recent years developing her coaching and is currently the only female coach in the men’s competition, working as a development coach in the GWS men’s program while also serving as Giants AFLW skipper.
But despite her future ambitions, Moneyball understands Eva is keen to play for as long as possible.
While expansion club Essendon made an early play for her, Eva will remain at the Giants in a playing capacity.
I would love to see Alicia Eva to be the giants aflw head coach as playing coach with strong assistant.
— PETA searle (@PetaSearle) March 30, 2022
W AWARDS GUEST LIST RAISES EYEBROWS
The W Awards were held on Tuesday night at Crown Palladium and while a number of key figures were missing — including one AFLW captain — amid the ongoing spread of the Omicron variant, the initial guest list had tongues wagging.
Moneyball understands that at least two AFLW senior coaches — including a premiership winner and both unique to the coaching landscape in their own right — were initially without an invitation to the league’s night of nights.
A swift reminder of their standing in the game was received at HQ and invitations then forthcoming.
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Originally published as AFLW trade news: Madison Prespakis on move to Bombers; Emily Bates considering rival offers, Isabel Huntington requests trade
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