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. The award has been sponsored by National Australia Bank (NAB) since ...

is an Australian rules football 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 league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, ...

(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.

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

continued its sponsorship of the award in 2018, offering $20,000 in prize money. The winner was announced at the AFLW's awards ceremony on 27 March, held at Peninsula, an event space in Docklands, Melbourne, and live-streamed on

AFL.com.au AFL Media is an Australian sports media company operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) to provide coverage of the league and the sport of Australian rules football. History Established in 2012, AFL Media provides content to AFL.com.au ...

. The ten members of the voting panel were Australian Football League (AFL) officials

Nicole Livingstone Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. Since retiring from swimming Livingstone has had careers as a television sports commentator and media presenter and as a sports administrator. She was ...

, who served as the chair,

Steve Hocking Steven Hocking (born 18 January 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Hocking became Chief executive officer, CEO of Geelong after the 2021 season. He i ...

, Josh Vanderloo and Grant Williams;

AFL Victoria AFL Victoria (formerly Football Victoria) is the state-level sport governing body for Australian rules football in the state of Victoria, Australia. Under the organisation's jurisdiction fall 115 leagues — including the Victorian Footbal ...

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 ...

; Tim Harrington of 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 memb ...

(AFLPA); 's

Peta Searle Peta Searle is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. Searle was senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW) from 2020 to 2021. Searle was previously the first woman appointed as an assistant coach ...

; and media commentators

Sharelle McMahon Sharelle Jane McMahon (born 12 August 1977) is an Australian former netball player who List of Australia national netball team captains, captained the Australia national netball team. She played in the goal attack and goal shooter positions. Do ...

Kelli Underwood Kelli Underwood (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 on televi ...

and Shelley Ware. The winner was

Chloe Molloy Chloe Molloy (born 6 December 1998) is an Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Collingwood Football Club from 2018 to season seven. Molloy is a dual AFL Women's All-Austral ...

, a defender playing for , who was the first recipient to poll the maximum 50 votes. Molloy also won the AFLPA's inaugural award for the AFLW's best first-year player, as voted by her peers; was named Collingwood's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

overall and best first-year player; finished equal-second in the AFLW best and fairest behind Emma Kearney; and was named in the

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

of the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led by ...

. The accrued the most nominations during the season, with five players (

Libby Birch Libby Birch (born 3 December 1997) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for Melbourne in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She played the first 3 seasons of AFLW for the Western Bulldogs. She previously played netball and captained Victoria at t ...

Monique Conti Monique Conti (born 9 December 1999) is an Australian rules footballer and basketballer. Conti currently plays for the Richmond Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW), having previously played for the Western Bulldogs from 2018 to 2019, and ...

, Naomi Ferres,

Bonnie Toogood Bonnie Toogood (born 8 December 1997) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Toogood was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with their second selection and eleventh overall ...

and Aisling Utri) selected.

Nominations

Final voting

References

{{featured list 2018 AFL Women's season Lists of AFL Women's players

Nominations

Final voting

See also

References