Western Bulldogs have used pick four of the inaugural AFLW Pre-Season Draft to take Sydney Swans Academy ruck Amaia Wain, betting on a 179cm prospect with a junior athletics background and one of the most distinctive athletic profiles in the draft pool.
Wain, born August 31, 2007, came up through the UNSW-ES Bulldogs in the AFL Sydney Women's Premier Division and the Sydney Swans Academy in the NSW-ACT region before relocating from Coffs Harbour to push for an AFLW pathway selection. She is being projected as a long-term ruck with the engine and aerial ability to play across multiple roles.
The defining trait in scouting reports is her vertical leap, attributed to a junior background in high jump and sprint events that she carried into football.
The Western Bulldogs' selection was framed around her capacity to work as a contested ruck while also covering wing, half-forward or half-back work depending on game flow. The club highlighted her endurance and versatility as the levers that allow her to use her leap to intercept across the ground.
Rookie Me Central, which has been one of the most consistent talent pathway publications covering the AFLW draft, summarised Wain's profile by noting that "a long-term prospective tall, Wain brings a lot of unique attributes to the game." Their assessment described her vertical leap as "off the charts" and flagged her as potentially a "unicorn" player due to combined athletic and endurance qualities.
Wain played a successful 2025 season with the UNSW-ES Bulldogs in the AFL Sydney Women's Premier Division, holding her own competitively against senior-level opponents while still in her teens. She also represented the Sydney Swans Academy.
For the Western Bulldogs, the selection is a long-horizon bet rather than an immediate-impact play. The club lost senior list player Maggie Gorham for the year for personal reasons, opening a spot the recruiting team has elected to use on a project ruck rather than a ready-made senior player.
Western Bulldogs are not the only club making structural ruck selections in the draft. GWS took Bond University's 185cm Maisy Evans with pick two on the same logic, and St Kilda's selection of Mayo Gaelic football product Saoirse Lally at pick seven also leans toward versatile athletic profiles.
The inaugural AFLW Pre-Season Draft ran on Monday May 4, with nine clubs making 11 selections in reverse ladder order. Gold Coast took Lily Quigley with pick one, while Essendon recruited Irish All-Ireland Senior champion Emma Dineen at pick three.
The AFLW pre-season program starts league-wide on Monday May 11. Wain joins a Bulldogs list that has been rebuilding its tall stocks across the past two seasons and will be one of the more closely watched young players entering the program.