West Coast Eagle Parris Laurie has been recognised as the AFLW’s premier ruckwoman upon earning a spot in the womens.afl 2020 Team of the Year.
The league’s dedicated website named a Team of the Week for every round of the NAB AFLW home and away season, thus the selection criteria for its Team of the Year was simple: those players with the most nominations earned a spot in the starting 21.
The interchange was selected by referring to the reporter’s 3-2-1 voting mechanism.
Laurie was a force to be reckoned with in the ruck all year, averaging a career-best 18 hitouts in her second AFLW campaign.
The 25-year-old was equally damaging around the ground, where she averaged nine disposals, close to three tackles and two marks per game.
She was the only ruckwoman in the competition to receive two Team of the Week nominations.
Laurie earned her first nomination for a steely performance against Fremantle in round two.
While the result did not go West Coast’s way in the inaugural RAC Derby, Laurie gave West Coast’s midfielders plenty of looks at centre bounces and stoppages by winning a season-high 27 hitouts against dynamic Dockers duo Mim Strom and Roxanne Roux.
Parris Laurie has been named in the round two AFLW team of the week after a dominant performance in the ruck, finishing with 27 hit-outs! pic.twitter.com/AzK2Y30Yyv
— West Coast Eagles AFLW (@eaglesaflw) February 18, 2020
Her second nomination came in the club’s final game for the year against Gold Coast at Mineral Resources Park.
Playing in familiar settings, Laurie was pushed forward to add some height to West Coast’s forward line and won a season-high 14 disposals and five marks.
She also effected eight hitouts and registered four tackles in a trying contest against the Suns.
The Denmark product was named in the womens.afl Team of the Year midfield alongside former teammate Kiara Bowers (Fremantle), Jaimee Lambert (Collingwood), Alyce Parker (GWS), Karen Paxman (Melbourne) and Maddy Prespakis (Carlton).
