The

AFL Women's Rising Star The AFL Women's Rising Star award is presented annually to the best young player in the AFL Women's (AFLW) during the home-and-away season. The first award was awarded in 2017 AFL Women's Rising Star, 2017. The award has been sponsored by Telstr ...

is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

award given annually to the best young player in the

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

(AFLW) for the year. Two eligible players are nominated each round of the home-and-away season; the players must have been under 21 at the beginning of the year and cannot have been previously nominated. Players suspended during the year cannot win. After the season's completion, an expert panel votes on the recipient. In 2016,

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...

expanded its 14-year sponsorship of the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) to the women's competition, including the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to its Rising Star award, ahead of its first season in 2017. The inaugural Rising Star, who won $20,000, was announced at the AFLW's awards ceremony on 28 March, held at Peninsula, an event space in Docklands, Melbourne. The ceremony was live-streamed on the AFL's website and mobile app. The ten members of the year's voting panel were Mark Evans,

Darren Flanigan Darren Flanigan (born 8 March 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong and St Kilda in the Victorian and Australian Football Leagues. Flanigan came to Geelong from the Victorian town of Katamatite and during the ...

, Ros Lanigan,

Simon Lethlean Simon Lethlean (born 17 November 1975) is a former Australian Football League (AFL) football operations manager and the former CEO of the St Kilda Football Club. Career Previously working as a commercial solicitor, Lethlean began working for ...

, Jennie Loughnan, Peta Searle,

Kevin Sheehan Kevin Vincent Sheehan OAM (born 1 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer for Geelong and the current Australian Football League (AFL) National Talent and International Manager, a member of the AFL football operations sub-committe ...

Kelli Underwood Kelli Louise Underwood OAM (born 1977) is an Australian radio and television sports journalist and sportscaster specialising in Australian rules football, netball and tennis.She was the first woman to call an Australian Football League match o ...

, Josh Vanderloo and Shelley Ware.

Ebony Marinoff Ebony Marinoff (born 15 November 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Adelaide Football Club#AFL Women's team, Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She is a three-time List of AFL Women's premiers, AFL Women's pr ...

of was the inaugural winner, earning 47 votes. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, she led the league in

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, laying a total of 70 for the season. She played in Adelaide's premiership side and was also named on the

interchange bench Interchange (or, colloquially, the bench or interchange bench) is a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of players who are part of the selected team but are not currently on the field of play. Interchange numbers AFL As of th ...

in the season's AFLW All-Australian team. amassed the most nominations during the season, with four players (

Deanna Berry Deanna Berry (born 7 May 1998) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She has served as captain since the 2024 season. Berry was drafted with the ninth selection in the 2016 AFL Women's d ...

Jasmine Grierson Jasmine Grierson (born 16 May 1998) is an Australian rules footballer playing for Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She has previously played for Melbourne and North Melbourne. AFLW career Grierson was drafted by Me ...

Lily Mithen Lily Mithen (born 2 March 1998) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's competition. She was drafted by Melbourne with their tenth selection and seventy-third overall in the 2016 AFL Women's ...

and Katherine Smith) selected.

Nominations

Final voting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:AFL Women's Rising Star, 2017 2017 AFL Women's season Lists of AFL Women's players

Nominations

Final voting

See also

References