AFLW draft: Get to know the northern Tassie nominees

Launceston's Madison Brazendale, Olivia Hudson and Dearne Taylor are in the mix along with South Launceston's Aprille Crooks and Old Scotch's Jemma Blair and Georgia Nicholas.

Candice Belbin, Courtney Hingston (Ulverstone), Charlotte Vandenberg (Wynyard), Claire Ransom (North Hobart) and Meghan Gaffney (North West) are among the other Tasmanians nominated.

NTFAW representative coach Dean Smith and Launceston coach Ash Smith, who have mentored all the players between them, spoke to the The Examiner about their strengths.

Club: Launceston

Positions: Wing, utility

"She's got pace, skill and is very agile. She's had a good run with the Devils. I think the best thing about Madi, besides her speed and skill, is her high work-rate. She's got her high work-rate and a great attitude.

"She's an outside player. So the running player that inside mids get the ball out to and she uses the footy. She uses her speed well and reads the play well.

"She's one of the biggest chances from Tassie to get drafted, they're all a chance but I've heard a fair bit of talk about Madi in terms of getting drafted." - Dean Smith

Ash Smith added: "She has exceptional aerobic capacity. She'd be in the top two probably in Australia for football for testing of aerobic capacity. She's elite."

Club: Launceston

Positions: On-baller, half-forward, half-back

Hudson, who has come from Hobart, is enjoying her first year at Launceston. Her previous club is South East Suns.

"She attacks the ball well. Puts her head over the footy and is pretty hard at it and has good skills to match.

"She's doing well, she's had a little bit of an interrupted season with us. She actually went away on the weekend with the state Indigenous university sports team.

"I think she was participating in two or three sports for the weekend and she was looking forward to that. I'll be glad to get her back this weekend." - Ash Smith

READ MORE: NTFAW rep coach Dean Smith shares lessons learned from tri-series

Club: Launceston/North Melbourne VFLW

Positions: Midfielder/half-back

Taylor is highly regarded for her leadership and was the NTFAW representative team skipper the past two years.

"It's probably unfortunate she hasn't gone before because she's still a chance and is a very strong midfield bull. She's really hard to stop in there, she wins the ball out and can use it well but brings other players into the game because of her strength in creating a path for teammates.

"She can play at both ends of the ground as well as midfield. I'd say for the last few years, she's probably been one of the best players in the North. She's not blessed with pace but she's got a huge tank and goes all day.

"Anything she lacks in speed, she makes up with the way she reads the footy.

"She's had success at VFLW level this year. She'd know she's coming towards the back end of that window to make it. It would great for her if she did." - Dean Smith

Club: South Launceston

Position: Utility

Crooks was named NTFAW's best player in both their representatives games earlier this month.

"She plays with confidence, is quick and has high intensity. So those first, second and third efforts.

"She just goes and goes and position-wise, you can play her anywhere.

"She's a running back. She can run the ball out of the backline off a high back or play as a mid and has this year proven she can kick goals going forward.

"Her intensity is up and she's hard at the footy. She can play inside footy but she can also play that outside runner role because of her speed." - Dean Smith

Club: Old Scotch

Positions: Half-back, midfielder

"She's dominated for Scotch the last couple of years, especially this year, she's gone to another level.

"She's a half-back/mid who we've developed from half-back into a mid and now she's even started to go forward a bit and into a forward rotation where she's hitting the scoreboard.

"We're trying to develop her in the same vein as we did with Ella Maurer who went to North Melbourne last year and Jemma has spent some time with North this year and had some strong games with them.

"We thought she may have got picked up last year so we're hoping she will get picked up this year.

"She's another one with the right attitude. Her work ethic and attitude is brilliant. She's quick and stronger than she looks." - Dean Smith

Blair played juniors at East Launceston.

Club: Old Scotch

Positions: Forward/midfielder

"She's got blistering speed which is a huge X-factor and I'm hearing North Melbourne are loving that. She went over to try out in the VFLW, she lives with Ella Maurer, she's played a fair bit of VFLW this year. I know North Melbourne dropped eight or nine AFLW players back one week and they still selected her so that shows they rate her.

"She'd be one of the quickest I've seen in Tassie. Kicking was really the thing we worked on here and North Melbourne have done that as well. We've noticed straightaway there's been a big improvement there.

"That really rounded her off, she's a complete player now. She can play wing and mid but as a high-forward with that pace. She's very hard to match-up on. She's one of the best in the comp." - Dean Smith

Nicholas finished ninth in North Melbourne's VFLW best and fairest this week.

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