We’d like to say congratulations on an incredible debut season to Brooke Vickers and to the entire Carlton AFLW team for their efforts this year.

As part of our community sport program, we sponsored Brooke this year to support her so she could focus on performing at her best. We chose to do this because we believe it’s incredibly important to support the growth of women’s sporting leagues and the hard-working athletes competing in them. Women’s sport is increasing in popularity with recent research indicating the viewership has increased 69% in the past two years. Hopefully soon this growth will mean these women can be full time professional AFLW players with no need of sponsorship. But while we’re still in the midst of that transition we believe it’s important for Australia companies to provide female athletes the support they need to compete on the field.

Brooke was premiership player for the Oakleigh Chargers before being selected with pick No.23 in the 2021 NAB AFLW Draft. Top AFLW analysts commended Brooke as a well-rounded player, noting her exceptional ability to create space and utilise her long kicking ability to push the ball down the field. Also mentioned was a tough, physical presence that showed when competing against bigger senior players right from the outset in a sport where younger debutants can struggle against the size and experience of veterans in contact and contested situations.

We’re incredibly proud of both Brooke and her Carlton teammates who were right on the edge of finals contention and sure to continue building on their hard work next year.