THE PORT ADELAIDE Football Club congratulates four players who represented the club as part of its Next Generation Academy Program who were selected as part of the AFLW draft on Tuesday.
Teah Charlton, Indy Tahau, Rachelle Martin and Bella Smith represented Port Adelaide in games against women aligned to Adelaide last year.
The two teams were selected under the same SANFL alignments as the Next Generation Academies currently in operation at SA’s two AFL clubs.
Sturt, North Adelaide, Glenelg and Central District prospects lined up for Adelaide while West Adelaide, South Adelaide, Norwood and Eagles hopefuls were chosen for Port Adelaide.
Charlton, from South Adelaide, kicked three goals in game one to be among the better performers in Port’s win along with West Adelaide’s Martin.
Smith featured in the second game and got among the goals.
Charlton was drafted by Adelaide with pick 4, after the 18-year-old was an All-Australian at last year’s Under-18 Championships and claimed the SANFLW 2019 Breakthrough Player of the Year award during the Panthers' premiership season.
Tahau is an athletic-tall who is strong overhead and has great goal sense. She drafted by Brisbane with pick 37.
In 2019, she was Best on Ground for South Adelaide in the SANFLW GF as a 16-year-old and has been a NAB AFLW National Academy member for the past two seasons.
Martin was claimed by Adelaide with pick 45, having featured for the Crows as an injury replacement player in 2019.
The West Adelaide vice-captain is the reigning SANFLW best and fairest winner.
Smith went to Collingwood. The accomplished cricketer is a strong defender who played with Norwood in the SANFLW.
Over in South Australia, Steve Symonds has presented Bella Smith with her stripes. pic.twitter.com/2OZvmna7nk
— Collingwood AFLW (@CollingwoodAFLW) October 7, 2020