Mikayla Bowen – an Eagle on the rise

At just 19 years of age, Mikayla Bowen already has an impressive list of accolades to her name. She won the Swan Districts Best & Fairest in 2016, was the club Captain when the Swans Youth Girls won the Premiership in 2017, captained the 2019 WA State 18s side, was named in the All-Australian team of 2019 and signed with the West Coast Eagles in January of that same year.

After an incredible performance in Round 5, where she made the competition take notice of who she is with 21 disposals, seven marks and a match-winning goal, Bowen can now add another three notches to her belt, including;

• An NAB AFLW Rising Star Nomination,
• Named in the Round 5 AFLW Team of the Week, and
• Crown Player of the Match.

In receiving these recognitions, the competitive but humble midfielder was quick to honour her team’s efforts as the reasons for why she was nominated.

“It’s something that is extremely special to me as a person” she said, “but this honour wouldn’t have come about if it wasn’t for everyone around the footy club and on the team.”

“We are working towards something massive at the Eagles and it’s extremely exciting to see what we’ll be able to achieve in the near future.

“I still reflect back on my time at Swannies and how it helped me grow as a person and a player.”

Since 2017, the AFL Women’s Rising Star award is presented annually to the best overall young player throughout the AFLW home-and-away season.

Every round, two nominations are given to the standout young players who performed well during that particular round. To be eligible for nomination, a player must be under 21 years of age and have not been previously nominated. If a player is suspended during the season, they can still be nominated, but cannot win the award. At the end of the season, each member of a voting panel awards 1 to 5 votes to the players they deemed to have performed the best throughout the entire home-and-away season. The player with the highest total votes wins the NAB AFLW Rising Star Award.

Each nominee throughout the season is able to nominate their junior club to receive the NAB Club Recognition award, which includes:

Please join us in congratulating Mikayla Bowen on her Round 5 AFLW Rising Star nomination.