Profile: Olivia Wolmaransheight: 181cm
D.O.B: 02-09-2007
Leagues: WAFL Women's, AFLW U18 Championships
SNAPSHOT: “One of the premier key forwards in the AFLW Draft with plenty of upside for the future.”
Olivia Wolmarans is an athletic key position forward who can impact games both in the air and at ground level with a great balance of aerial ability and speed. A confidence player, Wolmarans is near-unstoppable when at her best, and can launch goals from long-range with ease.
Wolmarans’ football journey started way back in 2016 when even as a young child she was growing her love for the game at Mount Hawthorn Cardinals in Perth’s Metro Central competition. She played 76 games between 2016-2021 for the club, moving up through the pathways until filtering into Subiaco’s youth program.
In her triple bottom-age season, Wolmarans starred for the Team Black in an intra-state game against Team Gold, booting two goals and drawing comparisons to Amy Franklin with her aerial ability and ground level speed. That same season, Wolmarans made her Rogers Cup debut and really started her rise to being one of the most dominant key forwards in the country, booting 15 goals in 11 games including multiple majors on four occasions.
Wolmarans cracked in for her League debut in Round 1 of the 2023 season, but was dropped back to Rogers Cup where she spent the next four rounds. A return to the League side followed and she also represented the Sandgropers at both Under 16s and Under 18s level. Getting better and better as the year went on, Wolmarans ended up booting three goals across her two games at Under 18s level, averaging 9.5 disposals, 2.5 marks and 3.5 tackles per game.
Her promising form in 2023 translated to her bottom-age season where she starred for Subiaco in the WAFLW, booting 15 goals in 13 games and boosting her disposal average up to 15.8 per game. She. averaged the 14 touches and four marks – as well as 1.3 goals – at the national championships. Am MVP performance at GMHBA Stadium for the Under 17 National Futures earned her a spot in the AFLW Academy, and from there she only got better.
Wolmarans kicked six goals from 12.5 disposals and a massive 4.3 marks per match at the national championships, including a four-goal game against the Allies in Blacktown. Named centre half-forward in the All-Australian team, Wolmarans would unsurprisingly receive a National Draft Combine invite where she would test well and further stake her claim for a top 10 selection.
STRENGTHS:
+ Athleticism
+ Aerial ability
+ Scoreboard impact
+ Overhead marking
+ Speed
+ Agility
+ Penetrating kick
+ Upside
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Game sense
- Temperament
When it comes to Wolmarans' most eye-catching moments, it is hard to deny her aerial ability and overall athleticism stand out. Be it clunking contested marks - an element she has significantly improved upon this season - or breaking clear of her opponent goal side, Wolmarans is a dual threat and impacts wherever she is.
Starting in the air, Wolmarans has the talent to not only leap high, but take the ball at the highest point, making it really difficult to spoil her. If they do, quite often opposition defenders will infringe, but even if not penalised and are successful in spoiling, the job is not done. Wolmarans' ability to recover, find the ball and burst away means she can also create scoring opportunities from that.
Her ability to be a key target when running hot is crucial, and for Wolmarans, it is about keeping focused on the task at hand. Opponents know that if she starts to get off the chain, the Subiaco talent can completely destroy them, so throughout the national championships, defenders began to irritate and get under the skin of the tall.
That action evoked a response that did concede a few free kicks or a clear dip in confidence, and across the matches against South Australia and Vic Metro, Wolmarans kicked 0.4 from 12.5 disposals. She missed a number of shots she would normally get, and it looked to continue with two behinds against the Allies early. But as soon as Wolmarans got a Joe the Goose for confidence, it lit a spark.
A dominant second half from the Subiaco call resulted in her finishing with 12 disposals, six marks and four goals in her best performance of the championships. The underlying element for Wolmarans to improve there is getting used to defenders being in her face or irritating her, and then remaining focused to destroy them with her performance.
So impressive was her second half against the Allies, she quite literally looked unstoppable. Clunking grabs and launching them from 55m, Wolmarans was in such great form she could have worn a blindfold and still put it straight through the middle. Which goes back to the upside component of when Wolmarans can improve the side of her game when things are not going her way, then watch out.
Her athletic profile is elite for her size, and she will worry a lot of talented defenders at the top level. If you were measuring peak performance - hurt factor at their best - then Wolmarans would be arguably in the top three and number one for a forward. With the traits she has in terms of her football, she is simply too difficult to quell without extra measures in place to take her mind off the game.
When she gets to the AFLW, Wolmarans will be able to learn the tricks and traits of running patterns up the field as well, as occasionally she gets stuck on the dead side of the ground as she did at points at the national championships. However when inside 50 or with the game on her team's terms, she leads strongly and will not worry about anyone in her way.
Going forward, Wolmarans has elements that clubs will be able to tweak to make her more effective in less than ideal situations, and have an impact across four quarters. What she does offer is unlike just about anyone else, and in full flight, she is simply outstanding.
DRAFT RANGE: 3-10
SUMMARY:Olivia Wolmarans’ upside along with her traits make her a unique player in this year’s AFLW Draft. Though hard to predict with so many club-tied players, key forwards with her athleticism do not grow on trees. Expect a number of teams inside the top 10 look to draft her, and with further development in an elite environment, she will be one to watch for years to come.
WAFL Women's
Season Team K HB D M CP UP T HO CLR I50 R50 GL GM K H D M HO T G DC
2023 Subiaco 35 22 57 11 0 0 12 15 0 6 0 4 5 7.0 4.4 11.4 2.2 3.0 2.4 0.8 47
2024 Subiaco 118 88 206 35 0 0 37 89 0 37 0 15 13 9.1 6.8 15.8 2.7 6.8 2.8 1.2 68
2025 Subiaco 89 44 133 46 0 0 45 38 0 17 0 19 11 8.1 4.0 12.1 4.2 3.5 4.1 1.7 62
Total - 242 154 396 92 0 0 94 142 0 60 0 38 29 8.3 5.3 13.7 3.2 4.9 3.2 1.3 177
AFLW U18 Championships
Season Team K HB D M CP UP T HO CLR I50 R50 GL GM K H D M HO T G DC
2023 Western Australia Girls 13 6 19 5 7 11 7 1 0 3 0 3 2 6.5 3.0 9.5 2.5 0.5 3.5 1.5 46
2024 Western Australia Girls 25 17 42 12 18 20 11 9 1 5 0 4 3 8.3 5.7 14.0 4.0 3.0 3.7 1.3 64
2025 Western Australia Girls 32 18 50 17 24 24 9 4 0 7 0 6 4 8.0 4.5 12.5 4.3 1.0 2.3 1.5 59
Total - 70 41 111 34 49 55 27 14 1 15 0 13 9 7.8 4.6 12.3 3.8
https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/olivia-wolmarans/
