Wonthaggi's Baia Pugh is a Tiger!

THE 2025 Telstra AFLW Draft is done and dusted and Wonthaggi Power teenager, Baia Pugh, daughter of Matt and Hayley, has been drafted at pick 54 by the Richmond Tigers.

She is one of two Gippsland Power players to be picked up in the draft on Monday night, December 15, after Chelsea Sutton, from the Warragul Industrials Football Netball Club, went at pick 31 to the Saints.

A prodigious athletic talent whose abilities were recognised on the national stage in Little Athletics and also a star basketballer, Baia has the skills and determination to go far in her chosen sport.

Richmond clearly saw a lot of potential in Pugh’s developing ability, with her running endurance and ability to get to contests highly prized in the burgeoning women’s game.

Here’s what the recruiters said about Baia Pugh ahead of the draft:

Pugh’s athletic gifts, as already stated, are what underpin her game. She can run all day with her endurance base, break away from opponents with nice speed, and has elite agility, which was evident from her State Combine testing data.

Deployed as a half-forward and then rotating through the midfield, Pugh has found a nice niche from which to play. Whether or not she could fill a spot onball was never a fitness question, but rather a footballing nous one. She seemed to hold her own and not look out of place around the stoppages and though Pugh is still raw in terms of her football IQ, she has worked hard on her decision-making. Pugh cited it as a key improvement of hers over the last 12 months and it has shown with some of her plays going inside 50 with the ball in hand.

Pugh’s skills still need to sharpen up, which is to be expected compared to the rest of her peers who have been in the code for longer.

Both her kicking and ball-handling efficiency are noted as her main focuses going forward, but again have shown rapid improvement…

It’s a probing assessment of the 18-year-old, 169cm player, but with skills development already progressing, and established work-ethic and endurance already in her tool kit, Baia has emerged as an excellent pick up by the improving Tigers.

The final assessment was as follows:

“Baia Pugh’s elite athletic traits hold her in good stead and automatically rise her up draft boards. Clubs will back themselves in to tidy up the footballing elements, and with Pugh’s rate of development, she has shown herself to be an eager learner. Expect her to be in consideration from the middle of the draft onwards and if not picked up, could benefit from another year at the level to further hone her skills.”

But the fact that Baia been taken in the main draft among the top 60 recruits in the country is a badge of honour for the Wonthaggi Power product. Well done Baia!

Gippsland Power posted its congratulations online:

Well done to Baia Pugh from the Wonthaggi Power who goes pick 54 in the AFLW Draft. We see Baia head off to the Richmond FC to start her AFLW career. Well done on your junior footy career and do Gippsland proud.

Check out the list of draft selections as they happened.

Round one

1. Olivia Wolmarans - Richmond

2. Scarlett Johnson - Greater Western Sydney

3. Kiera Yerbury - Greater Western Sydney

4. Sunny Lappin - Gold Coast (matching Adelaide's bid)

5. Chloe Bown - Adelaide

6. Alex Neyland - Sydney (matching Collingwood's bid)

7. Ava Usher - Gold Coast (matching Collingwood's bid)

8. Imogen Trengove - Collingwood

9. Georja Davies - Gold Coast (matching Essendon's bid)

10. Maggie Johnstone - Essendon

11. Evie Cowcher - Geelong

12. Alannah Welsh - Gold Coast (matching the Western Bulldogs' bid)

13. Mikayla Nurse - Gold Coast (matching the Western Bulldogs' bid)

14. Mizuki Brothwell - Western Bulldogs

15. Dekota Baron - Gold Coast (matching Melbourne's bid)

16. Jordyn Allen - Melbourne

17. Sophie Eaton - Port Adelaide

18. Madeleine Quinn - Sydney (matching Brisbane's bid)

19. Asher Fearn-Wannan - Brisbane

20. Mia Russo - West Coast

21. Lucy Waye - Adelaide

22. Chloe Baker-West - Melbourne

23. Amy Smith - Collingwood

24. Lily Baxter - Carlton

25. Olivia Gorman - Adelaide

Round two

26. Jade McLay - St Kilda

27. Priya Bowering - Geelong

28. Mischa Barwin - Collingwood

29. Josephine Bamford - Collingwood

30. Olivia Crane - Port Adelaide

31. Chelsea Sutton - St Kilda

32. Bronte Parker - Gold Coast

33. Marlo Graham - Brisbane

34. Tayla McMillan - Carlton

35. Charli Hazelhurst - Fremantle

36. Jovie Skewes-Clinton - West Coast

37. Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner - North Melbourne

Round three

38. Fina Dethlefsen - Richmond

39. Alicia Blizard - Adelaide

40. Monique Bessen - Fremantle

41. Matilda Argus - Collingwood

42. Abby Hobson - St Kilda

43. Renee Morgan - Geelong

44. Rhianna Ingram - Gold Coast (matching the Western Bulldogs' bid)

45. Charlie O'Connor Moreira - Western Bulldogs

46. Mia Anderson - Fremantle

47. Molly Thomas - Sydney

48. Zara Neuwirth - Collingwood

49. Shauna McElligott - North Melbourne

50. Nalu Brothwell - Essendon

51. Hannah Looney - Hawthorn

Round four

52. Olivia Lacy - Brisbane

53. Sarah Wall - North Melbourne

54. Baia Pugh - Richmond

55. Yasmeen Janschek - Greater Western Sydney

56. PASS - Sydney

57. Maya Dear - Hawthorn

58. PASS - Hawthorn

59. Meg Lappin - Brisbane

60. Maya Louvel-Finn - St Kilda

61. Carys D'Addario - St Kilda

62. PASS - Gold Coast

63. Ava Stewart - Adelaide