West Coast Eagles defender Jess Rentsch has been rewarded for her strong performance on the weekend with a Telstra AFLW Rising Star nomination.
The second-year Eagle has had an incredible season, showing her elite skills, strength and courage week in and week out, and has been an on-field inspiration for her teammates.
While the Eagles fell to the Crows by 17 points at Norwood Oval on Saturday, the 19-year-old managed a career-high 15 touches, seven of those contested, three marks and four tackles.
“It’s unexpected, but exciting,” Rentsch said following her nomination news.
“I’m not one to play for personal achievements, it’s more team success that I’m after, but it’s nice to be recognised.
“Daisy broke the news to me and the group at the start of today’s team meeting, and I was really not expecting it.
“I thought she was going to say someone was debuting or something, but it was nice have the team there and they all got around me.”
After playing eight games in her first year, Rentsch hasn’t missed a game this season and has hit career-high stats across the board, including disposals (15), marks (four), tackles (12) and metres gained (457).
“Personally, I’ve just been trying to work on my fitness and my contest craft,” Rentsch said.
“I’ve always loved the physical side of football, but in the off-season, I really targeted my strength and building my strength in the gym.
“In juniors, I was a lot stronger than the other girls, and now I’m just trying to bring my strength and power to the AFLW level and be competitive.”
Rentsch is the second Eagle to be nominated for the Rising Star this season, with teammate and housemate Lucia Painter nominated in round one.
The Eagles are back home for round 10, taking on Geelong at Sullivan Logistics Stadium on Friday night, bounce down from 6:15pm.
