Madison Prespakis (born 2 November 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

(AFLW). She previously played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

from 2019 to 2022. A midfielder who won multiple accolades at junior level and played in the

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football L ...

(VFLW) as a teenager, Prespakis won the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award in her debut season and the 2020 AFL Women's best and fairest award in her second season. She is a three-time AFL Women's All-Australian, three-time Carlton best and fairest winner and was the inaugural Essendon best and fairest winner in season seven, and is Essendon's equal games record holder with ten games.

Early life

Prespakis is the daughter of Damien and Jody. Her mother is an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

from the

Djadjawurrung Dja Dja Wurrung (Pronounced Ja-Ja-war-rung), also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the Traditional owners of lands including the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca rive ...

tribe. Prespakis has three siblings: twin sister Annalea, Georgie and Jimmy; She attended Gisborne Secondary College and supported growing up. Prespakis began playing football at four years old through the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pro ...

program in Romsey, north-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She played in boys' teams at first, before representing the under-15 Sunbury girls side. In 2017, Prespakis played in the premiership-winning

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

side in the TAC Cup Girls. She was named in the league's team of the year and placed second in the league's best and fairest with 20 votes. She competed at the 2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships for Vic Metro and was named in the All-Australian squad. In October, Prespakis was named in the 2018 AFLW Academy squad as one of twenty-nine seventeen-year-old prospects. As part of this squad, she trained with the and over the following months. In 2018, Prespakis became captain of the Calder Cannons and won their best and fairest award with 113 out of a possible 120 votes. She was again named in the TAC Cup Girls Team of the Year and tied with

Nina Morrison Nina Morrison (born 13 December 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club#AFL Women's team, Geelong Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A midfielder who won multiple accolades at junior level and played ...

for the league best and fairest. She again competed at the

2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2018 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2018, with six teams competing in the main 'Series 2' round robin tournament and with a further four playing in a two-match on-on-one exhibition as the competition's ...

; she shared the competition's most valuable player award with Morrison on 16 votes apiece, won Vic Metro's most valuable player award and was named in the All-Australian side. She played in an exhibition game for Victoria, acting as a curtain raiser for the E. J. Whitten Legends Game. Prespakis amassed 21 disposals in Victoria's win, the most of any player. Aside from under-18 competitions, she also played six matches for in the

(VFLW). Ahead of the

2018 AFL Women's draft The 2018 AFL Women's (AFLW) draft consisted of the various periods when the ten clubs in the Australian rules football women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2019 season. As in the previous season, all player co ...

, Prespakis was widely predicted to be taken with one of the first selections. Prospective draftees were required to nominate a state or region they wished to play in; Prespakis selected the Melbourne metropolitan area, citing a wish to remain home with her family. This prevented from recruiting her with pick one or two and allowed Carlton the opportunity to select her with pick three.

AFL Women's career

Carlton (2019–2022)

Carlton recruited Prespakis with their first selection and third overall in the 2018 AFL Women's draft. She made her AFL Women's debut in the opening round of the 2019 season against at

North Hobart Oval North Hobart Oval is a sports venue in North Hobart, Tasmania, used for Australian rules football. History North Hobart Oval started its existence as Hobart Town's brickfields in 1844 before becoming a convict women's housing site, an immigr ...

. The following round, she was nominated for the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award after kicking one goal and amassing 20 disposals, seven clearances and nine contested possessions against . Prespakis went on to play in the

2019 AFL Women's Grand Final The 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held at Adelaide Oval on 31 March 2019 to determine the premiers of the league's third season. Admission was free to the general public, and the match between and was ...

loss to Adelaide in front of a record AFL Women's crowd, and was among Carlton's best players. Following a debut season in which she averaged 19 disposals and kicked seven goals across nine games, Prespakis won the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award with 49 votes and was named in the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team. She also won the AFLW Players' best first-year player award and tied for the Carlton best and fairest award with captain Brianna Davey, capping off a memorable first season. Leading into the 2020 season, ''womens.afl'' journalist Sarah Black named Prespakis at no. 23 on her list of the top 30 players in the AFLW. She was selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week in rounds 1, 3 and 6, and tied with North Melbourne's

Jasmine Garner Jasmine Garner (born 8 July 1994) is an Australian rules footballer with in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. Garner scored the AFLW's first-ever goal while playing for in the league's inaugural match in 2017. Early life Garner grew up sup ...

and 's Karen Paxman as ''womens.afl''s player of the year. Prespakis was selected in the

2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team The 2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team represents the best-performed players of the 2020 AFL Women's season. It was announced on 27 April 2020 as a complete women's Australian rules football team of 21 players. The team is honorary and does n ...

, and was also selected as vice-captain in the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

's inaugural AFL Women's 22under22 team, having earlier been selected in the retrospective 2017–2019 team. She went on to win her second Carlton best and fairest award, after coming second in voting for the AFLW Players' most valuable player award for that season, and capped off her season by winning the 2020 AFL Women's best and fairest award with 15 votes, at just 19 years of age; in doing so, she became the first indigenous player to win the award. She later said that she had turned to Carlton AFL co-captain Patrick Cripps at times during the season for advice on how to deal with taggers. Leading into the 2021 season, Sarah Black named Prespakis at no. 1 on her annual list of the top 30 players in the AFLW. Prespakis was best afield in Carlton's win against in round 3, recording 24 disposals and a goal, and was selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week for that round. She was again among the best afield the following week against with 19 disposals and two goals, and was again selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week, but was cited for a dangerous tackle on former teammate

Sarah Hosking Sarah Hosking (born 2 December 1995) is an Australian rules footballer with the Richmond Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Carlton Football Club from 2017 to 2020. Hosking represented Victoria in the inaug ...

, which eventuated in a one-match suspension. Prespakis attempted to overturn the suspension at the AFL Tribunal but was unsuccessful, ruling her out of the competition's inaugural indigenous round and meaning she would be ineligible for that year's AFL Women's best and fairest award. She was best afield upon her return against in round 6 with 27 disposals and a goal, despite injuring her left elbow in the first quarter, and again won selection in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week. Prespakis was named at no. 17 in Sarah Black's 2022 list of the top 30 players in the AFLW. She was named Carlton's best player in its opening round loss to and was best afield with a career-high 29 disposals in Carlton's win over Geelong in round 2, which saw Prespakis play against her sister Georgie for the first time; she also polled six coaches' votes and was selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week for that round. Prespakis was named Carlton's best player with 27 disposals in its loss to in round 3 and was also selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week for that round. She was among Carlton's best players every other match for the season, polling eight coaches' votes in Carlton's win over in round 8.

Essendon (2022–present)

In April 2022, Prespakis and teammate

Georgia Gee Georgia Gee (born 28 October 1999) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Gee was drafted by Carlton with their first selection and twelfth overall in the 2017 AFL Women's draft. She ...

accepted deals to join 's inaugural AFLW team, with both signing on the opening day of the expansion signing period in May.

Statistics

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Personal life

Prespakis' younger sister Georgie currently plays for , having been selected with the second selection in the

2021 AFL Women's draft The 2021 AFL Women's draft consists of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2022 season. Special assistance In May 2021, just before the draft period began, the AF ...

. Prespakis also dated current player

Serene Watson Serene Watson (born 3 November 2001) is an Australian rules footballer playing for St Kilda in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). She has previously played for the Gold Coast. Early life Watson was born in Sydney, New South Wales and moved ...

Honours and achievements

* AFL Women's best and fairest:

* Essendon equal games record holder * 3× AFL Women's All-Australian team:

, S7 * 3× Carlton best and fairest: 2019, 2020, 2022 * Essendon best and fairest: S7 * AFL Women's Rising Star:

* AFLPA AFLW best first-year player: 2019 * 3× AFL Women's 22under22 team: 2020 (vc), 2021 (vc), 2022 (vc) * AFL Women's 2017–2019 22under22 team

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prespakis, Madison 2000 births Living people Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Calder Cannons players Carlton Football Club (AFLW) players Essendon Football Club (AFLW) players Melbourne University Football Club (VFLW) players Calder Cannons players (NAB League Girls) Lesbian sportswomen Australian LGBT sportspeople LGBT players of Australian rules football Australian people of Greek descent