AFLW 2023: Amy McDonald finishes equal second in best-and-fairest despite missing All-Australian squad

A Geelong star finished second in the league best-and-fairest but was nowhere to be seen in the All-Australian squad, while another was also overlooked for an All-Australian jacket.

Amy McDonald. Picture: Getty Images

Geelong ball-magnet Amy McDonald finished equal second in the AFLW best and fairest, tying on 16 votes with three of the competition’s best.

Prolific North Melbourne midfielder Ash Riddell, Sydney game-changer Chloe Molloy and Gold Coast midfielder Claudia Whitford, all polled the same amount of votes and were named in the All-Australian squad, with Riddell and Molloy earning All-Australian jackets.

However, McDonald was nowhere to be seen in the 42-player squad.

The ruling from the umpires isn’t everything, and most would have considered young gun Georgie Prespakis as a lock to top Geelong’s tally.

But that All-Australian squad snub highlighted how underrated McDonald is in the AFLW competition, despite winning three consecutive club best and fairest gongs.

The 25-year-old may not have the flashy skills and dash of her partners in crime Prespakis and Nina Morrison, but she consistently wins the footy in the clinches and applies manic defensive pressure.

McDonald showed just how valuable she is in Geelong’s first two finals, finishing with 21 disposals, 11 tackles and a goal against Essendon and sparking the Cats to an upset win over Melbourne with 21 disposals and two goals.

Amy McDonald kicked two goals agains the Dees. Picture: Getty Images

She laid eight or more tackles on five occasions this season and eclipsed 25 disposals in four matches.

Key defender Claudia Gunjaca can also consider herself unlucky not to have been named in the All-Australian squad after clunking the third-most intercept marks in the competition.

Meanwhile, it was a surprise to see no Cats in the final All-Australian team itself

Prespakis, who polled 14 votes in the league best and fairest after finishing equal sixth in last year’s count despite missing two games, was arguably the most glaring omission from the All-Australian team.

She went to another level in 2023, ranking sixth in the competition for contested possessions and winning 25 disposals or more in seven of her 10 home-and-away matches.

There were plenty of high-end midfielders in the AFLW this year, but the regular matchwinning displays from Prespakis deserved All-Australian recognition.

Originally published as AFLW 2023: Amy McDonald finishes equal second in best-and-fairest despite missing All-Australian squad