Gold Coast Suns name Titans Netball prodigy Isabella Lyons in AFLW U18 squad for 2025
She’s still learning the rules of Australian Football after playing just 10 games, but this 16-year-old netball prodigy has already booked herself into the Gold Coast Suns AFLW under-18s squad for 2025 and is eyeing the draft. Read about her remarkable journey here:
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Sixteen-year-old Isabella Lyons is still learning the rules of Australian football but has already found herself on the Gold Coast Suns AFLW under-18s roster for 2025.
The Helensvale State High School teen picked up a footy for the first time at the beginning of 2024 after seeing her little sister fall in love with the sport.
In fact, she’d never even watched a game on television.
“I thought I may as well give it a try, see what it’s all about, and I loved it instantly,” Lyons said.
“I never watched an AFL game until I got into the team.”
She is the youngest of the squad by nearly two years, having only celebrated her 16th birthday in September and is yet to begin year 11 studies.
It wasn’t an opportunity she’d expected to have, let alone so quickly, since she’d only taken the field 10 times in 2024 and often picked netball over footy when clashes arose.
“I still don’t know the rules, I’m figuring it all out, that’s how new it is to me,” Lyons said.
A part of her school’s netball, soccer and Australian football academies, the athletic teen has also been named a Netball Queensland Ruby Series squad member by the Gold Coast Titans for 2025.
She believes her court sport upbringing was in fact a key factor to her getting scouted; a pre-developed skill base which set her apart.
“I wasn’t too out of place because it is a lot like netball,” Lyons said.
“You catch a ball and all that, all you’ve got to do is learn how to tackle and kick.
“I knew how to catch a ball mid-air … playing netball for so long with hard passes it just clicked and felt normal.”
Now she must learn to juggle playing two sports at a semi-professional alongside her final two years of school.
The season starts back up on January 13 with squad trainings before regular matches run through to mid-winter – games played interstate similarly to the AFLW format.
“At the start of last year, I would have never said ‘oh, I’m going to play for the Suns’.
“It’s just crazy.
“I still feel like such a little baby, but playing with all these older girls is such a good accomplishment.”
Queensland squads will then be selected from those performances for the 2025 National Championships at a later date.
“It’s such a great opportunity,” she said.
“I am a little nervous but the Suns people are so lovely and I feel like I’ve just clicked in so fast … it’s fun to train with them because it’s such a high community.”
The cross-code teen said she was in a completely different mindset to 12 months ago, and couldn’t believe how her sporting career had completely flipped out of nowhere.
Lyons will be draft eligible in 2026 for the 2027 AFLW season.
“To think I could be drafted in two years is scary, but it’s such an amazing feeling that all my hard work is finally paying off.
“I do see this as a pathway and I’ve been training non-stop.
“I hadn’t thought about it before because all I thought about was netball, but I feel like now that this pathway is open it would be stupid not to take it.
“It’s crazy to think about how far I’ve come in less than a year.”
What does her younger sister – her inspiration – think of it all?
“She’s amazed (and) it’s good now that I’m in the Suns because I can teach her the tricks they teach me,” Lyons said, along with her own piece of advice:
“If you have that discipline and the ability to train everyday, you will get there.”
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