Former AFLW No.1 draft pick Isabel Huntington considering move to Giants

When fit, Isabel Huntington is one of AFLW’s best players, and she could be on the move in the coming weeks.

Despite the ACL injury that kept her from competing in the 2022 AFLW Summer season, Isabel Huntington has been linked with a move to the GIants. Picture: Michael Klein/NCA

Former AFLW No.1 draft pick Isabel Huntington is strongly considering a shock move from the Western Bulldogs to Greater Western Sydney.

Versatile key position player Huntington, 23, is in the sights of the Giants, where her cousin Will Setterfield played and was a member of the club’s academy before his trade to Carlton.

CodeSports understands Huntington’s potential move would be in part related to non-football reasons, potentially including her university study. She has strong networks in the Harbour City.

Former No.1 pick Isabel Huntington has been linked with a move to GWS. Huntington sustained an ACL injury in round one of the 2022 season, keeping her out of play this year. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Any move from Whitten Oval to the Giants may need to be orchestrated via a trade, although AFLW clubs remain in the dark about player movement rules for players heading to both expansion and non-expansion clubs, with Sydney, Hawthorn, Essendon and Port Adelaide poised to enter the competition.

Huntington, the AFLW Rising Star award winner and an All-Australian in 2020, and the Dogs’ leading goalkicker last season, has been restricted to just 20 games since being taken at No.1 in the 2017 draft, having suffered a string of knee injuries. She went down during the first half of the Bulldogs’ round one loss this season to Melbourne, suffering her third ACL rupture.

It means that Huntington will be unable to play in the impending August 2022 AFLW season, with the new season start date set to be brought forward.

The Bulldog’s injury would make her ineligible to play in the upcoming season, with any move likely to occur in the AFLW trade season. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Bulldogs have been hit hard over the years by player departures, with Emma Kearney, Monique Conti and Katie Brennan all leaving over the first few years of the competition.

The delay of the AFLW grand final by a week following Collingwood’s Covid-19 outbreak has further muddied the waters ahead of what shapes as a massive few weeks in the AFLW landscape.

Along with a new collective bargaining agreement being finalised player movement rules and a new season structure also need to be formulated with the new season likely less than five months away.

Originally published as Former AFLW No.1 draft pick Isabel Huntington considering move to Giants