The 2020 AFL Women’s Best and Fairest will be held this afternoon and Fremantle midfielder Kiara Bowers is a great chance to etch her name in history as the first Fremantle winner of the award.

It’s a statement that may seem obvious to Fremantle fans, but perhaps less so to those outside of our purple bubble.

In 2020, Bowers was the most dominant midfielder in an unbeaten team, yet she appears to be an outsider in the conversation of the league’s best players.

Sarah Black, the chief writer for womens.afl, also didn’t include Bowers in her top four favourites for the medal.

In defence of Black, she really knows her stuff. She is to AFLW media like Bowers is to tackles - no-one else comes close to her output and coverage of the game.

The odds are, the winner will come from her top-four, but many fans (and Hayley Miller!) felt Bowers was more than just an outsider and Black added Bowers as a fifth option in a later tweet.

Here are some reasons why Bowers, alongside the AFLW’s other top players, deserve the top prize.

STARTING WITH THE OBVIOUS…
Bowers tackles like she’s playing AFL Evolution on ‘easy’. Apart from teammate Katie-Jayne Grieve, who had 51 tackles in 2020, Bowers’ 99 tackles in 2020 were more than double any other player.

I asked senior coach Trent Cooper how ‘Turbo’ does it.

“I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve got no idea,” Cooper said.

“I don’t know if people see her small stature and think that they can get away from her, or if her ferocity to make an impact when she can’t get to the ball is so far above and beyond everyone else in the competition.

“It’s something that can’t be taught and it’s something that’s innate in her and her competitiveness. If she can’t win the ball, then the person who’s going to win it, isn’t getting away with it.”

THE OFFENSIVE GAME
We all know the Best and Fairest is more of a midfielder’s award than a tackler’s award.

As well as tackles, Bowers led the AFLW for smothers and pressure acts. No-one comes close to her defensively.

Perhaps, Bowers is a victim of her unequalled defensive work, which is so good, her offensive game goes relatively unnoticed.

Tackles aside, Bowers should still be considered among the best midfielders, ranking;
#3 in ground ball gets
#3 for midfielders in score involvements
#4 in contested possessions
#6 in inside 50s
Top-10 in metres gained

Cooper said Bowers’ offensive game was ‘significantly underrated.’

He added that his game plan may be what costs Bowers in the count.

“Everyone talks about her tackle numbers, but she’s almost our best ball user and things happen when the ball is in her hands,” Cooper said.

“She doesn’t match the possession numbers of other top midfielders, but that’s more to do with our game style than it is to do with Kiara’s accumulation abilities.”

“She’s capable of getting the big numbers if we played the game in a certain way, but the way we move the ball, nobody in our team will have really high numbers.

“She’s still been our no.1 possession player and uses the ball so well when she does have it in her hands.

“She’s been our best midfielder in a team that was undefeated. It will be a big surprise if she doesn’t poll really well.”

GETTING RESULTS
A lot has changed at Fremantle in the AFLW space since the first season in 2017, but when Bowers is on the field, the results speak for themselves.

Before Bowers in 2017 and 2018, Fremantle won four games, lost nine games and drew one game.

With Bowers in 2019 and 2020, Fremantle are 13-2.

Bowers is far from the sole contributor to those numbers, but it doesn’t hurt the case that she makes the team better, either.

Gemma Houghton, who like Bowers was named All Australian in 2019 and 2020, said Bowers’ impact is just as big off the field.

“She’s an absolute machine and for anyone to have her on your team, you’re extremely lucky,” Houghton said.

“It’s just her character off the field as well as on it. She’s someone that’s so approachable and she’s so passionate about what she does.

“For us young players, to be able to just go up to ask or advice or whatever it is, she’s always there and willing to help and make us better as a team. We’re really lucky to have her.”

THE COACHES’ VOTES
Bowers placed fourth in the 2020 AFLCA champion player of the year award with 42 votes from six games – five behind winner Jasmine Garner of North Melbourne.

While the AFLW’s Best and Fairest comes down to the umpires, Bowers ranked in the top-three for votes in five of the six rounds.

She earned top or equal top votes in round two against West Coast, round four against St Kilda and round five against Brisbane, and the second-most votes in round one against Geelong and round six against the Western Bulldogs.

If the umpires see it the coaches’ way, that’s potentially 13 votes from six games.

CHAMPION DATA’S NO.1
There are two ways to categorise the overall game of a player.

Both have their flaws, but Champion Data’s Ranking Points and AFL.com.au’s Fantasy Points both have a method of aggregating a player’s overall contribution.

And Bowers ranked no.1 in both in 2020.

In AFL Fantasy it’s not even close. Bowers averaged 110 points per game in 2020. The second-best player was Garner, who averaged 94.6.

TO SUMMARISE...
While Bowers is no lock for the medal, she’s just as good a chance as any other and at least deserves to be in the conversation when discussing the AFLW's best player.

In a later tweet, Black said Bowers’ chances are reduced by being behind the other top midfielders in possessions and scoreboard impact.

Garner, for example, averaged three more disposals per game than Bowers and kicked eight goals, compared to Bowers’ one.

It’s still a mystery and the only way to find out who will win is to tune in at 5pm WST today on Fox Footy, where the award will be broadcast live.

It can also be streamed on womens.afl and on the AFL Women's app.