Isabel Huntington
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Isabel Huntington (born 25 February 1999) 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
Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...
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). She was drafted to the
Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...
with the first pick in the
2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 AFL Women's season, 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts wer ...
.


Early life and junior football

Huntington was an exceptional junior footballer, impressing particularly at the
2016 AFL Youth Girls National Championships The 2016 edition of the AFL Youth Girls National Championships was held from 2 May to 6 May in Melbourne, Victoria. Nine teams competed in the round-robin tournament, divided into pool A: Queensland, Western Australia, Vic Country and Vic Metro; ...
. In one match she kicked five goals (including four in one quarter) and recorded 30 disposals, all in a shortened match of 12-minute quarters. Huntington endured injury plagued teenage years, suffering a broken leg in 2015 and a ruptured
anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...
in her knee in 2016 that saw her miss the entirety of the 2017 junior and state-league football season. Despite not being able to play with the side due to the injury she trained in a limited capacity that year with
Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...
who play in the
VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victori ...
competition. Huntington completed high school at
St Michael's Grammar School St Michael's Grammar School is an Australian independent Anglican co-educational primary and secondary day school located in the Melbourne suburb of , Victoria. St Michael's was founded in 1895 by the Community of the Sisters of the Church an ...
in St Kilda 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 ...
's south. She was school captain there in her final year in 2017 and graduated with an
ATAR Atar, Ahtra, Atash, Azar () or ''Dāštāɣni'',, s.v. ''agni-.'' is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is conside ...
of 98.10 that placed her in the top two per cent of students in the country. She has aspirations to study medicine and work as a doctor.


AFL Women's career

Huntington was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with the first overall selection in the
2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 AFL Women's season, 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts wer ...
.


2018 season: Debut

She made her debut in a twenty-six point win over at VU Whitten Oval in the opening round of the 2018 season. The following round she played a key role in the first half of the Bulldogs' win over , including one stretch where she took consecutive contested forward-50 marks and kicked back-to-back goals in the space of a minute. Soon after though she was involved in a loose-ball chase that saw her sustain a serious knee injury and sit out the remainder of the match. Scans later confirmed she had sustained a season ending ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.


2019 season: Injury

Huntington suffered a sprain to her reconstructed knee in mid-December 2018, the result of which kept her out of playing for the team until round 5 of the
2019 AFL Women's season The 2019 AFL Women's season was the third season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 2 February to 31 March, com ...
.


2020 season: Rising Star

The
2020 AFL Women's season The 2020 AFL Women's season was the fourth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 7 February to 22 March; it ...
was a successful one for Huntington, winning many accolades and rapidly improving as she switched to the Bulldogs' back line. She had her best game for the season in the 3rd round, where the Bulldogs suffered a 21 point loss to . In that game, she collected 15 disposals, 7 marks, which was her career record at that point, and 4 tackles. She received a 2020 AFL Women's Rising Star nomination in the last round of the home and away season, after collecting 15 disposals, 6 marks and 2 tackles in the ' 15 point loss to . She finished the season as the Bulldogs' leading mark taker, with a total of 24 over her 5 games that season. She also finished equal 1st in the league for contested marks and 2nd for intercept marks. She won the prestigious
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 at the conclusion of the season, receiving a total of 34 votes, 4 ahead of second-placed Caitlin Greiser. The win made her the Bulldogs' first ever Rising Star winner. She also won her maiden All-Australian blazer, being placed on the half back line. She also won the team's
best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
award,, with a total of 44 votes, 3 ahead of second-placed
Ellie Blackburn Ellie Blackburn (born 25 March 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs#AFL Women's team, Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She served as List of Western Bulldogs captains#AFL Women's, Western Bulldogs ...
.


2021 season: Forward switch

It was revealed that Huntington had signed a contract extension with the club on 16 June 2021, after playing every game possible for the club that season. Huntington achieved selection in Champion Data's 2021 AFLW All-Star stats team, after leading the league for average contested marks in the
2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, compr ...
, totalling 2.3 a game.


2022 season 6: Injury and leaving Western Bulldogs

In the first round of
2022 AFL Women's season 6 2022 AFL Women's season 6 was the sixth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 7 January to 9 April, comprisi ...
, Huntington suffered an
anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...
, and at the end of the season was traded to
Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...
in exchange for two draft picks.


Personal life

Huntington is a cousin of
Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...
AFL player Will Setterfield. She studied a Bachelor of Science at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
.


Statistics

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
, style="text-align:center;", , 4 , , 9 , , 12 , , 9 , , 52 , , 27 , , 79 , , 40 , , 6 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 5.8 , , 3.0 , , 8.8 , , 4.4 , , 0.7 , , 2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 19 ! 17 ! 11 ! 122 ! 52 ! 174 ! 79 ! 28 ! 0.9 ! 0.6 ! 6.4 ! 2.7 ! 9.2 ! 4.2 ! 1.5 ! 2


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huntington, Isabel 1999 births Living people Western Bulldogs (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Melbourne University Football Club (VFLW) players University of Melbourne alumni People educated at St Michael's Grammar School