Seven new GIANTS have received their jumper numbers as the ramp-up continues towards the 2026 NAB AFLW season.
Taken at picks two and three in the Telstra 2025 AFLW Draft, top talents Scarlett Johnson and Kiera Yerbury are filling the boots of retired GIANTS Aliesha Newman and Katherine Smith, taking on numbers 16 and four, respectively.
Johnson, the GIANTS’ first selection at last year’s Draft, is touted for her skills as a utility, with a critical combination of height and power making her explosive out of contest and deployable both around and ahead of the ball.
Former Swans Academy talent Yerbury, will take over the number four jumper left vacant by former vice-captain Katherine Smith, who announced her retirement ahead of the season.
A quick-thinking midfielder who can play inside or outside, as well as at half forward, Yerbury caught the GIANTS’ attention with her damaging speed and agility while starring for the Allies in the National Championships as well as locally for the North Shore Bombers in the Sydney AFL Premiership.
At 184cm apiece, twin pillar rucks Maisy Evans and Yasmeen Janschek add significant height to the GIANTS squad in 2026, with the duo to don the numbers 26 and 29 respectively.
Selected at pick 54 in the 2025 AFLW Draft, GIANTS Academy product Janschek shot into consideration after making a full-time switch from netball to football, allowing her to hone her ruck craft while also familiarising herself with the GIANTS’ run and carry style of play.
Similarly, Evans switched her attention from rugby to Australian rules upon moving with her family to Queensland where she has been an outstanding performer for Bond University in the QAFL.
Janschek will be the first player in the number 29 since dual-code star Jodie Hicks in 2022, while Evans takes over 26 from Claire Ransom who recently announced her retirement from AFLW.
The final draftee heading into 2026, young gun Sophia Gaukrodger, takes on the number 19 jumper from Indigo Linde.
Selected with the final pick of the inaugural AFLW Pre-Season Draft last month, GIANTS Academy product burst into draft contention this year after delivering impressive performances across her Talent League games under Academy Coach-cum-teammate Alicia Eva.
The draftees complement experienced trade-ins Tilly Lucas-Rodd and Poppy Boltz, who both joined the GIANTS at the end of the 2025 season.
Brisbane recruit Boltz adds flag-winning footy IQ to the team, having won the 2023 AFLW Premiership with the Lions in her first year of football, while Lucas-Rodd adds almost 100 games of experience to the GIANTS’ young side, as an inaugural AFLW player entering their eleventh season of the competition.
Key defender Boltz takes over the number 21 jumper most famously worn by popular GIANTS defender Pepa Randall, while Lucas-Rodd will don 22.
