{"id":54992,"date":"2025-08-09T08:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T08:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/54992\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T08:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T08:43:08","slug":"2025-aflw-team-preview-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/54992\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 AFLW Team Preview: Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AFTER a \u2018down\u2019 year by Melbourne\u2019s lofty standards, one of the best sides in AFLW history grabbed a top three player for the second year in a row and now has the future core that will see the Demons rise back up the ladder in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>LAST SEASON IN A NUTSHELL<\/p>\n<p>Position: 9th<br \/>Wins: 6<br \/>Losses: 5<\/p>\n<p>B&amp;F: <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"29869\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/kate-hore\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kate Hore<\/a><br \/>Leading Goalkicker: <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"31017\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/alyssa-bannan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alyssa Bannan<\/a> (12 goals)<\/p>\n<p>OFF-SEASON MOVES<\/p>\n<p>Ins: Amelia Dethridge (Cross-coder\/AFLW Draft)), Maggie Mahony (Oakleigh Chargers\/AFLW Draft), Molly O\u2019Hehir (South Fremantle\/AFLW Draft), Laela Ebert (injury replacement player\/North Adelaide)<br \/>Outs: Rhi Watt (retired), Lily Mithen (Gold Coast), Grace Hill, Delany Madigan (delisted), Aimee Mackin (inactive, ACL), Jacinta Hose (inactive, back)<\/p>\n<p>2025 TEAM LIST<\/p>\n<p>#1 Georgia Campbell<br \/>#2 Olivia Purcell<br \/>#3 Alyssia Pisano<br \/>#4 Paxy Paxman<br \/>#5 Tyla Hanks<br \/>#6 Alyssa Bannan<br \/>#7 Tayla Harris<br \/>#8 Sarah Lampard<br \/>#9 Georgia Gall<br \/>#10 Kate Hore<br \/>#11 Molly O\u2019Hehir<br \/>#12 Ryleigh Wotherspoon<br \/>#13 Maeve Chaplin<br \/>#14 Amelia Dethridge<br \/>#15 Lauren Pearce<br \/>#16 Grace Beasley<br \/>#17 Tahlia Gillard<br \/>#18 Denby Taylor<br \/>#19 Laela Ebert+<br \/>#20 Maggie Mahony<br \/>#21 Aimee Mackin*<br \/>#22 Eliza McNamara<br \/>#23 Sinead Goldrick<br \/>#24 Megan Fitzsimon<br \/>#25 Jacinta Hose*<br \/>#28 Saraid Taylor<br \/>#29 Eden Zanker<br \/>#30 Shelley Heath<br \/>#31 Blaithin Mackin<br \/>#32 Gabrielle Colvin<br \/>#33 Lily Johnson<br \/>#34 Lauren Jatczak+<br \/>#43 Jemma Rigoni<br \/>#44 Madison Ibrahim+<\/p>\n<p>*inactive<br \/>+injury replacement players\/top-up players<\/p>\n<p>ONES TO WATCH<\/p>\n<p>Key Player: Kate Hore<br \/>Breakout Potential: Alyssia Pisano<br \/>New Recruit: Molly O\u2019Hehir<\/p>\n<p>A superstar who did not miss a beat stepping up to fill the shoes of legend Daisy Pearce, <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"29869\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/kate-hore\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kate Hore<\/a> was one of the most consistent players going around when it came to winning the ball and hitting the scoreboard regardless if she was midfield or forward. She has the explosive <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"101465\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/molly-ohehir\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Molly O\u2019Hehir<\/a> with her now whose athleticism and versatility will make her a fan favourite early days, while last year\u2019s first pick <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"76217\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/alyssia-pisano\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alyssia Pisano<\/a> has had the year apprenticeship to adjust to the level and should be ready to kick lots of goals in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>2025 FIXTURE<\/p>\n<p>Round 1: vs. Western Bulldogs | Sat Aug 16 @ Whitten Oval, 7:35pm<br \/>Round 2: vs. St Kilda | Sat Aug 23 @ Casey Fields, 3:05pm<br \/>Round 3: vs. Collingwood | Sun Aug 31 @ Victoria Park, 1:05pm<br \/>Round 4: vs. Richmond | Sat Sep 6 @ Casey Fields, 12:35pm<br \/>Round 5: vs. Port Adelaide | Sat Sep 13 @ Alberton Oval, 3:05pm<br \/>Round 6: vs. West Coast | Sun Sep 21 @ Casey Fields, 1:05pm<br \/>Round 7: vs. Gold Coast | Fri Sep 26 @ Casey Fields, 1:05pm<br \/>Round 8: vs. Essendon | Fri Oct 3 @ Ikon Park, 7:15pm<br \/>Round 9: vs. Fremantle | Sun Oct 12 @ Fremantle Oval, 5:05pm<br \/>Round 10: vs. Sydney | Sat Oct 18 @ Casey Fields, 1:05pm<br \/>Round 11: vs. Brisbane | Sat Oct 25 @ Brighton Homes Arena, 7:15pm<br \/>Round 12: vs. Geelong | TBC @ GMHBA Stadium<\/p>\n<p>PREDICTION<\/p>\n<p>Melbourne has too much quality on its list to not be around the mark in 2025. While still building on the run with plenty of youth coming in, a number of players who were injured or limited in games last year return which should see a boost up the ladder. Not out of the realms of possibility to be a top four contender, with the bottom half of the eight seemingly around the mark with an easier start to the year but a tough last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFTER a \u2018down\u2019 year by Melbourne\u2019s lofty standards, one of the best sides in AFLW history grabbed a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,45593,45594,64,63,55,639,45595,45596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-54992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-alyssa-bannan","10":"tag-alyssia-pisano","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-kate-hore","16":"tag-molly-ohehir","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54992","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=54992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}