North Melbourne superstar Ash Riddell has claimed her first AFLW Best and Fairest medal, officially crowned the league's best player of the 2025 season at the W Awards on Monday night.
The Roos vice-captain secured the prestigious award with 23 votes, finishing three votes ahead of Geelong's Georgie Prespakis.
This achievement follows a night of recognition for the 29-year-old, who earlier in the night earned her fifth All-Australian selection. She also won the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award this season.
Riddell demonstrated truly dominant form this year, including an incredible three-week span in which she twice broke her own AFLW disposal record. She now holds three of the top five all-time individual disposal tallies, with her 45 disposals against Sydney in Round 8 setting a new all-time bar.
She was elevated to vice-captain ahead of the 2025 season after teammate Jasmine Garner took over the captaincy from star Kangaroos veteran Emma Kearney.
On the field, Riddell was a statistical leader for the Roos this season, topping the team for clearances and finishing second behind Garner for score involvements.
Riddell secured the league's top individual honour following another solid performance in North Melbourne’s come-from-behind preliminary final win on Saturday against Melbourne.
That victory saw the Kangaroos book their spot in a third straight Grand Final against the Brisbane Lions this Saturday night at Ikon Park from 7.45pm AEDT.
AFLW Best and Fairest leaderboard
23 votes: Ash Riddell (North Melbourne)
20 votes: Georgie Prespakis (Geelong)
18 votes: Tyla Hanks (Melbourne)
17 votes: Ella Roberts (West Coast)
15 votes: Laura Gardiner (Sydney)
15 votes: Jasmine Garner (North Melbourne)
13 votes: Kiara Bowers (Fremantle)
13 votes: Georgia Nanscawen (Essendon)
12 votes: Matilda Scholz (Port Adelaide)
