By Oliver Lees
Sunbury’s very own rising star Georgie Prespakis is setting her sights on this year’s upcoming AFLW national draft.
The 18-year-old has risen through the ranks of local and representative football to emerge as one of the leading candidates in the draft, which is scheduled to take place in July.
Prespakis said she was still coming to terms with the prospect of being selected.
“I’m very excited and honestly a bit shocked that it’s actually happening, but overall I can’t wait,” Georgie said.
“It’s something I’ve wanted since I was a junior playing in Romsey.”
Prespakis started her football journey as an under-10’s player at the Romsey Redbacks before joining the Sunbury Lions.
There she played a part in two of the three consecutive premierships the Lions won in the Essendon District Football League, which included a best on ground performance in 2018.
The midfielder also took out the under-18’s girls division 1 EDFL best and fairest.
That form continued into her play with the Calder Cannons, where she was named the NAB League 2019 best and fairest award as well the EDFL best and fairest for the second year running.
Prespakis has now lined up for the Calder Cannons for three seasons, averaging more than 22 disposals and six tackles.
This year has seen fresh challenges emerge for Prespakis as she debuted for Essendon in the VFLW and competed in the Vic Metro in the AFLW under-19’s championships, all while Calder Cannons commitments.
She said experiencing the variety of each competition had been valuable for her development.
“It’s been really good playing all the different levels of footy, going from the younger faster NAB League to the VFLW with much bigger bodies,” she said.
“I definitely can notice the difference [between the competitions], the VFLW has given me a taste of what I could be getting myself into.”
Prespakis will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of her sister, Madison, who was selected by Carlton with the third overall pick in the 2018 AFLW national draft.
Prespakis said she’d enjoyed having her older sister around for advice.
“She’s been good at telling me to keep a level head and keep enjoying myself as well,” she said.
“My family has been really supportive so it’ll be great if the draft is in person and we can all go.”
Within the AFLW draft system, players nominate which state they would like to be selected in.
Prespakis said she had nominated her home state of Victoria, which could see her drafted to Geelong, St Kilda and Richmond, all of which have a top 10 pick in the draft.
The draft will be held on Tuesday, July 27 at 6.45pm.
