AFLW draft hopeful Alicia Blizard is bullish about how her unique skillset can be a weapon in top level football.
The 174cm forward can do it just as easily on the ground as in the air in front of goals.
Blizard, a Whadjuk Noongar woman, played out her second season of senior WAFLW footy in 2025 - all before her 18th birthday.
Having thrived within the system over back-to-back top four finishes with East Fremantle - including a minor premiership campaign ending with a heartbreaking grand final loss in 2024 - Blizard has refined what she knows makes her stand out amongst the pack.
"I reckon one of my big strengths is my defensive pressure...when I don't have the ball, reading the players around me, knowing what to do with it before I get the ball, " she told National Indigenous Times. "I have that really good vision".
"I've been told I'm a taller forward, but I play a small role...you don't usually get that.
"I'm usually the one who recovers it... I'm better at ground balls... which you don't really see for a tall. Especially being fast."
Ahead of next week's AFLW national draft, Blizard said getting picked up would be the "biggest accomplishment of her life".
Self-admittedly far from mad a footy-head as a young kid, the softball prospect took up the sport between the summer seasons to stay fit and fill in the time.
"I told my nan, and she signed me up the next day. I've been playing ever since."
Starting with local club Rossmoyne and later Willetton in Perth's southern suburbs in the under 12s, joking she was "useless for the first two years", at times the only girl at her school playing football before 12 months of hard work opened up the door at East Fremantle during year 9.
Part-way through her third season as an underage in the U19s Rogers Cup Blizard, was brought into the Sharks' league side for her WAFLW debut in 2024.
She played out the year and through finals, including three goals on debut and hitting the scoreboard in a low-scoring three point loss to Claremont in that season's grand final.
Blizard backed it up with a solid nine senior appearances in 2025 - including a four goal statement against cross-town rivals South Fremantle in round one.
Early days, progression came quick - playing with the likes of current West Coast AFLW defender Georgie Cleaver, before state footy, WAFL setup entry in the same season - where she paired with reigning Rising Star Zippy Fish before her draft to Sydney.
"It all happened in the one year. Ever since the year nine afterwards it's just kept getting more intense," Blizard said.
"It gets easier along the way," she added, of adjustment to elite levels.
Asked if she thrives with each step up, Blizard responded: "Definitely."
WA state team selections for National Championships and AFLW Futures and national academy inclusions have come in the previous two years.
An invite to the draft combine came in October.
A post shared by East Fremantle Football Club (@effcsharks)
"Everyone in my family are athletes - amazing in all different sports, but every single one had been cut short by injury. If I make it, that's my way of proving myself," Blizard said.
WA Football female talent programs manager Trent Cooper says Blizard's exposure in league footy has showcased her readiness for the next level.
"Alicia combines power, speed and relentless forward-half pressure—traits that AFLW clubs value highly. Her foot skills and vision stand out, and she has already demonstrated that competing against mature bodies holds no fear," he said.
Cooper formerly coached Fremantle's AFLW side.
Blizard has also expressed her culture in footy, involved in NAIDOC events with the Sharks and designing a WA state team Indigenous jumper.
"Being the oldest girl (in the state squad), being there for the longest time it showed my journey..through all the clubs. Playing in it is unreal."
The AFLW draft is set for Monday December 15 in Naarm.
Close to 700 players across the country have nominated themselves for a potential dream come true, per reports, with Richmond holding the no.1 pick.
