Melbourne has drafted Alyssa Bannan with its first pick of the night, identifying her athleticism as a key asset for the team.

At 177cm, Bannan is a promising key forward with strong hands, who will pose as a dangerous target inside 50.

While the 18-year-old has the ability to push up the field, she will add plenty of flare to the Demons’ forward line with her agility at ground level and ability to hit the scoreboard.

MFC website 

Looks a good size and a smooth mover. Must be so hard to draft given the standard of opposition seems pretty week so I guess you look for skills and traits and there's certainly some smart stuff on display here. 

So many of the existing players are either athletic but poorly skilled or well skilled but with shoddy athleticism. I can see why the Dees headed to the draft. The draft highlights show good skills and clearly they are developing athletes as well.

As the level of competition improves at the junior level the level of talent will only improve too.

https://womens.afl/news/52583/sarah-black-s-2020-phantom-draft-late-mail-your-club-s-whispers

Was no. 2 in the phantom draft. I read elsewhere that she played as a KPD before pushing into the midfield and eventually forward.

 

I think the coaches will be pretty happy that the Bulldogs chose Fitzgerald at 2, leaving us with the chance to pick the best forward available. We have a stated weakness up forward and being able to bring in a tall forward that can win contests will be very pleasing.

They gave up a lot to get into the first couple of picks and I imagine they'll be pretty excited at the result. 

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/823313/nab-aflw-draft-alyssa-bannan?videoId=823313&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1601972755001

Seems to have a good, long kick too, which is especially important for a key forward in AFLW.

Loved seeing us get to play a big part of draft night.

Obviously, all selected are future champions and premiership stars ?

Seriously though, I'm looking forward to seeing what our new players can do in 2021 under the guidance of some great leaders at the Dees.

Looks a great prospect and exactly what we need. Megan Cunningham has been an absolute warrior but she didn’t have the any real impact last year at all. Hopefully Alyssa can go straight into the team and provide a target for us straight away.