Bond Bull Shark and Gold Coast Suns new recruit Jasmyn Smith.
Bond University has cemented its reputation as Australia’s premier women’s football talent nursery with no club in the country producing more AFLW players than the Bull Sharks over the past six years.
23 players have been added to AFLW lists from the Bull Sharks over the past six years.
The latest to join the elite competition is clever 18-year-old midfielder Imogen Evans who was snapped up by Collingwood with a post draft selection. She followed Bull Sharks teammate, pressure forward Jasmyn Smith, also 18, who was drafted to the Gold Coast Suns on Wednesday night.
The Bull Sharks had already seen four players, Ruby Sargent-Wilson, Laquoiya and Litonya Cockatoo-Motlap and Krystal Scott sign pre-draft deals with AFLW clubs for the upcoming season.
Sargent-Wilson was the first player signed to expansion side the Sydney Swans.
The 18-year-old studied and played at Bond on the prestigious Riewoldt AFL Excellence Scholarship.
Twins Litonya and Laquoiya Cockatoo-Motlap, 19, have also signed with an expansion club, Port Adelaide. Their elevation gives them the chance to add to the family’s remarkable dynasty at Port Adelaide where uncles Che and twins Donald and David Cockatoo-Collins played.
The sisters, who recently starred for Queensland in the National Championships, both said it was the realisation of their shared lifelong dream to be joining Port Adelaide.
Scott was recruited as a pre-draft mature age signing by the Suns.
The 27-year-old, who has an elite tennis background, was previously drafted by the Brisbane Lions out of Bond after starring in their 2017 premiership side. Injuries robbed her of the chance to excel with the Lions and then she took time away from the game as she became a mother for the first time. But her return to The Canal quicky put her back on the radar of AFLW clubs and a strong start to the season with the Bull Sharks convinced the Suns to offer her another chance at the highest level.
Only WAFL club Swan Districts has developed more AFLW players in the competition’s history having produced 24 players, including 9 from the 2016 draft, two years before Bond entered the QWAFL.
AFL Queensland chairman Dean Warren said the introduction of the Bond University QWAFL side in 2018 had not only given the women’s game a strong presence on the Gold Coast, the club had also become an outstanding gateway to the elite level for young players from all over Queensland.
“Bond University’s professionalism and their investment in women’s football has been significant,’’ he said.
“They have created an outstanding environment and culture that is quite professional which gives their players the best chance to maximise their potential and continue their development,” he said.
"The impressive number of players that have been drafted to the AFLW from their club is testament to that.’’