On the approach to our draft picks:

“We’re pretty excited to bring in Mizuki and Charlie from the draft. We had two picks that were pretty spread apart going into the night – at Pick 8 and Pick 44 – so we were going for best available. 

“We didn’t really have any sort of specific list needs that we were trying to address, but we were pretty intent on bringing in a fair bit of athleticism.

“Mizuki has got an awesome well-rounded athletic profile and Charlie has got some incredible speed which will be really exciting.”

On Mizuki Brothwell:

“There’s some pretty significant scope with Mizuki, given she’s only just finished her third season of footy. 

“As far as players she has been playing similarly to across her junior pathway, she’s probably a bit like Kaylee Kimber or Issy Grant.

“That sort of medium defender who can play tall or small because of their athletic ability. 

“Mizuki uses the ball well, makes really good decisions and is really competitive. She’s shown some really good signs with her ball handling at ground level and even played a couple of games in the midfield for the Dandenong Stingrays as well and showed some really encouraging signs.”

On Charlie O’Connor Moreira:

“Charlie was one who popped up a bit later as she had an ankle injury at the start of the season, so she didn’t start playing at the Western Jets until about June and missed out on selection for the National Championships. 

“She just had a really good patch of form late in the year.

“Some of her traits that really caught our eyes were her electric speed but also her competitiveness on the wing, which was a new position for her but she played it really well.

“She ran really good patterns, is super competitive and I just can’t stress how fast she is. 

On Mikala Cann: 

“She comes in as our second-most experienced player from a games played point of view, having played 76 at Collingwood. 

“We really targeted her for her contest-to-contest work. She has an incredible work rate – they don’t nickname her ‘The Bull’ for no reason.

“She’s super tough, tackles hard and fronts up contest to contest.”

On the list profile heading into 2026:   

“It’s been pretty deliberate for us over the past couple of seasons to try and minimise the turnover as much as possible. 

“I think that continuity gave the coaches something to develop (more)…the players also understood what was required from them. It’s easier to build those things with a lower list turnover. 

“We saw some significant gains this season off the back of lesser list changes.”