Charlie Rowbottom (born 22 January 2003) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for Gold Coast in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

(AFLW).

Early life

Rowbottom grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and first played Australian rules football in year eight at

Loreto Mandeville Hall Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex primary and secondary day school for girls, located in Toorak, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of many Loreto schools around the world, establis ...

. She proceeded to play junior football for the East Malvern Knights of the South Metro Junior Football League, and shortly thereafter accepted a position in the

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the Talent League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the ...

girls teams. She is the younger sister of professional men's footballer James Rowbottom, who plays for the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

Football career

Under the rules of the AFL Women's draft in 2021, Rowbottom was permitted to nominate the state of her choice for selection by an AFLW club. Despite growing up in Victoria, Rowbottom nominated

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, stating that although it would be "a shift in my life, it is all very exciting". had the first overall pick in the draft, and so selected Rowbottom with the number one pick. She played her debut match in round one of 2022 season 6 against , and recorded 11 disposals. The following round she was nominated for the

AFL Women's Rising Star The AFL Women's Rising Star award is presented annually to the best young player in the AFL Women's (AFLW) during the home-and-away season. The first award was awarded in 2017 AFL Women's Rising Star, 2017. The award has been sponsored by Telstr ...

award, in the Suns' 13-point win against . She missed out on winning the Rising Star award by one vote to Carlton's Mimi Hill, though she did win the equivalent award as judged by her peers at the Players Association MVP Awards.

References

External links

* * 2003 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players People educated at Loreto Mandeville Hall Oakleigh Chargers players (Talent League Girls) {{AFL-bio-2000s-stub