{"id":231546,"date":"2025-10-22T04:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231546\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T04:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:04:09","slug":"sunny-lappin-chooses-to-nominate-gold-coast-suns-over-father-daughter-selection-to-carlton-or-st-kilda-dad-matthew-lappin-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/231546\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny Lappin chooses to nominate Gold Coast Suns over father-daughter selection to Carlton or St Kilda, dad Matthew Lappin stats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunny Lappin, one of the top prospects of the 2025 AFLW draft pool, has opted against joining either of the two clubs her dad represented in the AFL, instead choosing to remain in Queensland.<\/p>\n

Lappin on Wednesday confirmed her intention to nominate the Gold Coast Suns as an academy selection for December\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old could\u2019ve nominated either Carlton or St Kilda under the father-daughter rule as her dad, 2004 All-Australian Matthew Lappin, played for both clubs during his 14-season AFL career.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the 2025 NAB AFL Women\u2019s Season LIVE ad-break free during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

But Lappin said she thought she\u2019d play her best footy at the top level if she remained on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a huge decision to make and lots to consider – a big one was family and friends and the idea of moving interstate. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d play as good of footy if I was somewhere else other than where all my favourite people are,\u201d Lappin said.<\/p>\n

Sunny Lappin of Queensland. Picture: Mark Brake\/AFL Photos\/via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI also had Rhyce Shaw as a coach in the Academy and I think that he\u2019s building something special at the Gold Coast Suns and that\u2019s something I\u2019d really love to be apart of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lappin looms as a top-1o selection in this year\u2019s AFLW draft, which will be held on Monday December 15.<\/p>\n

Lappin had a brilliant Under 18 national championships campaign for Queensland, averaging 25.2 disposals, 5.5 clearances and 4.2 tackles to win her team\u2019s MVP award, earn All-Australian honours and finish second to Vic Metro\u2019s Chloe Bown for the comp MVP.<\/p>\n

She then played a crucial role in Southport\u2019s QAFLW premiership triumph, claiming the best on ground medal after booting two goals from 30 disposals, 10 inside 50s and eight clearances. She and her teammates were coached by her dad.<\/p>\n

Sunny Lappin (as a 15-year-old) and Matthew Lappin. Picture: Glenn HampsonSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

\u201cSunny is a promising young prospect, and a valued member of the Suns Academy,\u201d Suns general manager of player and talent Craig Cameron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that she has signalled her intent to nominate our club ahead of this year\u2019s AFLW Draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lappin is one of several Suns academy prospects in the first-round mix for this year\u2019s AFLW draft. Ava Usher, Dekota Baron, Georja Davies, Alannah Welsh, Mikayla Nurse and Rhianna Ingram were all invited to the AFLW combine earlier this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunny Lappin, one of the top prospects of the 2025 AFLW draft pool, has opted against joining either…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[139531,33319,139526,64,63,689,3423,100481,136885,109667,139532,139525,139528,139527,2105,139529,2485,9130,647,677,62283,139530,701,117755,85,1122,40743,3425,660],"class_list":{"0":"post-231546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-2004-all-australian-matthew-lappin","9":"tag-academy-prospects","10":"tag-academy-selection","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-ben-waterworth","15":"tag-craig-cameron","16":"tag-debrief-panel","17":"tag-draft-pool","18":"tag-father-daughter-draft-star","19":"tag-father-daughter-rule","20":"tag-father-daughter-selection","21":"tag-georja-davies","22":"tag-getty-images-inc","23":"tag-glenn-hampson","24":"tag-gold-coast","25":"tag-gold-coast-suns","26":"tag-melbourne","27":"tag-oceania","28":"tag-premiership-triumph","29":"tag-promising-young-prospect","30":"tag-queensland","31":"tag-rhyce-shaw","32":"tag-sports","33":"tag-st-kilda","34":"tag-three-club-race","35":"tag-top-prospects","36":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}