Madison Prespakis

Madison Prespakis (born 2 November 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). A midfielder who won multiple accolades at junior level and played in the VFL Women's (VFLW) as a teenager, Prespakis was selected in the AFL Women's All-Australian team and won the Carlton best and fairest award (tied with Brianna Davey) and AFL Women's Rising Star award in 2019.

Prespakis is the daughter of Damien and Jody. Her mother is an Indigenous Australian from the Djadjawurrung tribe. Prespakis has three siblings: twin sister Annalea, Georgie, and Jimmy. She attended Gisborne Secondary College and supported Essendon growing up. Prespakis began playing football at four years old through the Auskick program in Romsey, north-west of Melbourne. She played in boys' teams at first, before representing the under-15 Sunbury girls side.

In 2017, Prespakis played in the premiership-winning Calder Cannons side in the TAC Cup Girls. She was named in the league's team of the year and placed second in the league's best and fairest with 20 votes. She competed at the 2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships for Vic Metro and was named in the All-Australian squad. In October, Prespakis was named in the 2018 AFLW Academy squad as one of twenty-nine seventeen-year-old prospects. As part of this squad, she trained with the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood over the following months.

In 2018, Prespakis became captain of the Calder Cannons and won their best and fairest award with 113 out of a possible 120 votes. She was again named in the TAC Cup Girls Team of the Year and tied with Nina Morrison for the league best and fairest. She again competed at the 2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships; she shared the competition's most valuable player award with Morrison on 16 votes apiece, won Vic Metro's most valuable player award and was named in the All-Australian side. She played in an exhibition game for Victoria, acting as a curtain raiser for the E. J. Whitten Legends Game. Prespakis amassed 21 disposals in Victoria's win, the most of any player. Aside from under-18 competitions, she also played six matches for Melbourne University in the VFL Women's (VFLW).

Ahead of the 2018 AFL Women's draft, Prespakis was widely predicted to be taken with one of the first selections. Prospective draftees were required to nominate a state or region they wished to play in; Prespakis selected the Melbourne metropolitan area, citing a wish to remain home with her family. This prevented Geelong from recruiting her with pick one or two and allowed Carlton the opportunity to select her with pick three.

Carlton recruited Prespakis with their first selection and third overall in the 2018 AFL Women's draft. She made her AFL Women's debut in the opening round of the 2019 season against North Melbourne at North Hobart Oval. The following round, she was nominated for the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award after kicking one goal and amassing 20 disposals, seven clearances and nine contested possessions against Adelaide. Prespakis went on to play in the 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final loss to Adelaide in front of a record AFL Women's crowd, and was among Carlton's best players. Following a debut season in which she averaged 19 disposals and kicked seven goals across nine games, Prespakis won the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award with 49 votes and was named in the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team. She also won the AFLW Players' best first-year player award and tied for the Carlton best and fairest award with captain Brianna Davey, capping off a memorable first season.

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season.

Individual

• AFL Women's All-Australian team: 2019
• Carlton best and fairest: 2019
• AFL Women's Rising Star: 2019
• AFLW Players' best first-year player: 2019