A high-marking forward with a reliable set-shot at goal, Wakefield is one of the AFLW’s great success stories.
The mother of two played football as a kid before a lack of pathways and competition forced her to netball, where she was a country star for Gol Gol, a small town north of Mildura. The 35-year-old would make the weekly 1200km round-trip from her family’s farm at Top Hut, which is the size of 25,000 MCG grounds, to Melbourne during her initial VFLW seasons in 2018/19. Wakefield has gone on to become one of the competition’s best key forwards, booting 17 goals from 18 games.
