{"id":805356,"date":"2026-07-17T04:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805356\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:20:10","slug":"2026-aflw-u18s-all-australian-team-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805356\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 AFLW U18s All-Australian team revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A STACKED All-Australian team from the AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 Championships has been revealed, with Vic Country MVP and star midfielder Ava Bilyk<\/a> named captain of the side. Despite Vic Country only winning the one game, Bilyk was best-on in almost every game she played for Country, and deservedly earned that accolade as well as the overall carnival best and fairest.<\/p>\n

Bilyk\u2019s MVP-winning national tournament followed on from her Under 16s MVP for Country. She of course earned the starting centre spot and was named on-ball with Allies pair Matilda Lange<\/a> and Zoe Curry<\/a>. Unsurprisingly Western Australia MVP Cara Dziegielewski<\/a> earned the starting ruck spot, with Allies\u2019 Frances Walsh<\/a> and Vic Metro\u2019s Maddison Meagher<\/a> named on the wings.<\/p>\n

The forwardline features four midfielders who are capable of rolling forward, with South Australian duo Lani Cocks<\/a> and Emma Charlton<\/a> named inside 50 along with Queensland MVP Molly Ferguson<\/a> and Vic Metro ball-winner Emily Rankin<\/a>. Carnival leading goalkicker Bailee Martin<\/a> \u2013 who finished with 12 goals \u2013 was a lock for full-forward despite only playing three games, while fellow National Academy member Harlee McIlwain<\/a> slotted into centre half-forward.<\/p>\n

Up the other end of the ground, a breakout carnival from South Australia\u2019s Olivia Leslie<\/a> earned her the full-b ack spot, with Swans Academy\u2019s Ashleigh Barlow<\/a>\u2018s dream top-age campaign rewarded with a spot at centre half-back. Vic Metro MVP Alli Allen<\/a> was named in a back pocket, as a trio of National Academy members occupied the last three spots. South Australian Emily Mableson<\/a>, West Australian Mia Carlshausen<\/a> and Allies\u2019 Charlotte Tidemann<\/a> rounded out the starting side.<\/p>\n

Looking to the bench and speedy midfielders Lucy Moore<\/a> (South Australia) and Aurelia Russell<\/a> (Allies) both deserved their places with National Academy pair Morgan Stevens<\/a> (Allies) and Sophie White<\/a> (Vic Country) on the interchange with South Australian forward Madeline Nuss<\/a> who finished second in the goalkicking behind Martin. Her coach and title-winning mentor Brad Snell was named the coach of the side.<\/p>\n

Champions South Australia recorded six players in the All-Australian team, one less than the Allies who had their best ever carnival result. Vic Metro had four players, while Queensland, Vic Country and Western Australia each had two.<\/p>\n

2026 AFLW U18s ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM:<\/p>\n

B: Mia Carlshausen (Western Australia) \u2013 Olivia Leslie (South Australia) \u2013 Alli Allen (Vic Metro)
HB: Emily Mableson (South Australia) \u2013 Ashleigh Barlow (Allies) \u2013 Charlotte Tidemann (Allies)
C: Frances Walsh (Allies) \u2013 Ava Bilyk (Vic Country) (c) \u2013 Maddy Meagher (Vic Metro)
HF: Lani Cocks (South Australia) \u2013 Harlee McIlwain (Queensland) \u2013 Emily Rankin (Vic Metro)
F: Emma Charlton (South Australia) \u2013 Bailee Martin (Vic Metro) \u2013 Molly Ferguson (Queensland)
R: Cara Dziegielewski (Western Australia) \u2013 Matilda Lange (Allies) \u2013 Zoe Curry (Allies)
INT: Lucy Moore (South Australia) \u2013 Madeline Nuss (South Australia) \u2013 Aurelia Russell (Allies) \u2013 Morgan Stevens (Allies) \u2013 Sophie White (Vic Country)<\/p>\n

Coach: Brad Snell (South Australia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A STACKED All-Australian team from the AFL Women\u2019s Under 18 Championships has been revealed, with Vic Country MVP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[378520,378521,64,378522,63,100620,10198,26962,61623,375338,100622,47067,43595,375339,375342,47068,100627,378523,378524,378525,375346,180926,44,378526,61946,100633],"class_list":["post-805356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alli-allen","tag-ashleigh-barlow","tag-au","tag-aurelia-russell","tag-australia","tag-ava-bilyk","tag-bailee-martin","tag-cara-dziegielewski","tag-charlotte-tidemann","tag-emily-mableson","tag-emily-rankin","tag-emma-charlton","tag-frances-walsh","tag-harlee-mcilwain","tag-lani-cocks","tag-lucy-moore","tag-maddison-meagher","tag-madeline-nuss","tag-matilda-lange","tag-mia-carlshausen","tag-molly-ferguson","tag-morgan-stevens","tag-news","tag-olivia-leslie","tag-sophie-white","tag-zoe-curry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805356","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=805356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}