AFLW awards night: See all the winners and the full All-Australian team
Monique Conti has claimed her first AFLW best and fairest award, decided after just eight rounds of votes. Plus see the full All-Australian team and other award winners here.
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Richmond midfielder Monique Conti has stormed to her first ever AFLW best and fairest medal in an emphatic result secured with two rounds remaining in the count.
The cross-code star spent her Sunday in Traralgon on court for the Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL, but on Monday was crowned the AFLW’s best player after bursting away early in the vote count with a series of dominant performances.
Conti, 23, sat atop the leaderboard for the entire night after surging away with an average 27 disposals and a goal per game over the first five rounds.
North Melbourne star Jasmine Garner was tipped to challenge Conti, but just like her dominant 2020 season could not attract the umpire’s attention and trailed the Tiger by nine votes after round 6 before finishing outside the top five.
Conti went on to win with 23 votes from a four-way tie for second on 16 votes, which included Garner’s teammate Ash Riddell, who again outpolled her fellow Roo despite Garner (14 votes) taking out the coaches’ association player of the year award last week.
Swans captain Chloe Molloy, Gold Coast’s Claudia Whitfort and Geelong’s Amy McDonald also tied for second.
Recruited to the Western Bulldogs ahead of the competition’s second season before joining Richmond for its inaugural campaign, Conti also claimed her fifth All-Australian blazer and could add to her haul of awards with the AFL Players’ Association MVP on Tuesday night.
Conti had the award sewn up by the end of round 8 after she was given three votes for her 35-disposal game against Hawthorn, moving seven votes clear of her nearest rival.
The mathematics were lost on the crowd at Crown Palladium, with little celebration from even the Tigers table until the result sunk in when the count resumed for the next round.
REACTION: CONTI CLAIMS TOP HONOUR
Monique Conti has no plans of sweeping her basketball career to the side after reaching the individual pinnacle of the AFLW while juggling two codes.
The Richmond midfielder stormed to an emphatic seven-vote victory in the league best and fairest on Monday night, sealing the award with two more rounds of votes to be counted – although that was lost on the 23-year-old star and her teammates.
“I’m sweating right now and shaking … it’s amazing,” Conti said after being presented the medal.
“I was just sitting there trying to do the maths, and I had (Tigers captain) Katie Brennan staring at me the whole time which made me even more nervous.
“(I knew) I had a pretty good game, last game, we had an amazing win. I was so happy to finish on that (claiming three votes).”
The award came only 24 hours after Conti took to the court for the Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL, and she said while her body “sometimes doesn’t feel 23”, she had no plans to stop juggling both sports.
She paid tribute to Richmond teammate and Bendigo Spirit basketballer Tessa Lavey as well as cross-code trailblazer Erin Phillips in her speech.
“I like to enjoy being on the go all the time, and I think that’s what makes me me. I wouldn’t be the same if I was sitting still, I go from one to the other to keep me going and that’s the way I like it,” she said.
“That’s what keeps me going, knowing that I can help create a path for young girls who are being told to choose between one sport or another.”
ALL-AUSTRALIAN: EMMA’S EIGHT
North Melbourne skipper Emma Kearney will be hoping her week ends with a premiership after starting it with a record eighth consecutive All-Australian selection.
The Kangaroos star was on Monday night lauded as the only player to have been selected in every incarnation of the league’s All-Australian outfit, with teammate Jasmine Garner and Adelaide’s Ebony Marinoff recognised for the sixth time each respectively.
Kearney played all 10 home and away matches, averaging 20.7 disposals and more than seven intercepts per game, with her kicking efficiency ranked third in the competition.
And as Sunday’s grand final face-off with Brisbane looms, Kearney, 34, was one of three Roos to be saluted with ballwinner Ash Riddell named on the interchange.
Defender Kearney had been lauded by her coach Darren Crocker following Sunday’s preliminary final for pushing through illness in a bid to rally her team.
“Kearns is a little bit under the weather … I just can’t speak highly enough of Emma Kearney and how she can find a way,” he said.
“She definitely wasn’t feeling 100 per cent.
“For her to be able to find a way to get out there and help her team win … we’re so proud of the way she goes about her footy.”
Adelaide — which fell just one point short of North Melbourne in Sunday’s preliminary final — had the most representatives with four players named, though midfielder Anne Hatchard was not deemed to have done enough throughout the home and away season to earn a nod.
Two true wingers were selected in the wing positions for the first time, with All-Australian debutant Crow Niamh Kelly and Lion Sophie Conway selected in the positions.
A trio of Swans — Chloe Molloy, Ally Morphett and Laura Gardiner — became the first Sydney players to be selected in the team, having gone from winless last season to winning a final.
Morphett — who finished runner-up by just one vote in the rising star award — earned her selection after playing just seven games.
Seven players from last year’s team also earned re-selection, with Chelsea Biddell, Monique Conti, Garner, Melbourne joint league leading goalkicker Kate Hore, Kearney, Marinoff and Tiger Eilish Sheerin recognised at Monday night’s W Awards ceremony at Crown Palladium.
RISING STAR: GIANTS STRIKE GOLD
Just one vote separated the game’s best young guns with emerging Giant Zarlie Goldsworthy crowned this year’s rising star award winner.
Goldsworthy, who turned 19 last week, claimed top honours with 41 ahead of cross-town rival Ally Morphett from Sydney (40 votes).
West Coast No. 1 draft pick Ella Roberts finished third (23 votes) ahead of Port Adelaide’s Matilda Scholz (13 votes).
Goldsworthy is the first Giant to claim the award, having played every game this season and kicking 13 goals.
The second-year player also recently claimed club best and fairest honours and re-signed for a further four seasons, saying the Giants had “shown me a lot of support on and off the field” in her first years in AFLW.
“There were a couple of times I had to go back to Albury and you almost pushed me out the door and that just shows what a family club we are,” she said earlier this month.
“To the girls - I wouldn’t come back here if I didn’t honestly love you. You create such a fun environment.
“It wasn’t a great season in terms of results but we stuck at it and it was still a great place to walk into every week.”
Hawthorn ballwinner Jasmine Fleming finished in fifth place with seven votes.
MARK AND GOAL OF THE YEAR
It might not have been enough to earn mark of the week honours, but high-flying Lion Courtney Hodder’s outrageous Round 7 grab has been named the AFL Women’s mark of the year.
Hodder’s courage was lauded after she flung herself towards her oncoming teammate — forward Dakota Davidson — and her Gold Coast opponent Bess Keaney and jumped from the ground for the ball to collect one of the most electric marks in eight seasons of AFLW.
At Monday night’s W Awards, Richmond’s Caitlin Greiser was also recognised for her goal of the year, for her final-quarter major from a huge angle in Round 10.
It’s happened! Courtney Hodder is a Mark Of The Year Finalist!
— Brisbane Lions AFLW (@lionsaflw) November 13, 2023
Cast your vote here: https://t.co/M8bmPcgUtLpic.twitter.com/JxP2DDcl5G
G-Train from the impossible angle 🚂ðŸ“
— RichmondW (@RichmondWomens) November 9, 2023
Caitlin Greiser is the Goal of the Year nominee for Round 10! pic.twitter.com/SUK5MqJmBp
Lions coach Craig Starcevich — who will this weekend lead Brisbane to its fifth AFLW grand final, against North Melbourne at Ikon Park — last month likened Hodder’s mark to that of courageous Lions great Jonathan Brown which claimed 2002 AFL mark of the year honours.
“If you were lucky to be at the MCG 20 years ago to see ‘Browny’ take his, I had a similar reaction on Saturday,” he said of Hodder’s mark.
“There’s been a couple of moments over eight years that I’ve jumped out of my seat in the coaches’ box, and most of them involved Courtney Hodder.
“The courage involved to take one of those is phenomenal.”
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