Self-effacing Sarah provides key cog to Demonic success

Photo Credit: Morgan Hancock

Like any side, Melbourne has its big names, with the likes of Tayla Harris and Kate Hore getting much of the media attention week to week.

However, there are a number of players who are just as important to Melbourne’s success but do not get the recognition they deserve in wider discussions of the AFL Women’s outside the bubble of Melbourne as a club and its fans.

One such player is Sarah Lampard.

Despite being the third last player picked by the Dees in the inaugural AFL Women’s Draft in 2016, she is one of only three members of Melbourne’s 2017 list still at the club.

She has always been one of those players that flies under the radar and lets her footy do the talking.

Moving between half back and the wing over recent years, injuries to key defender stocks early in 2026 has left Lampard required to play on the last line of defence.

Using her performance last weekend in the win over GWS as a bit of a case study, this player focus aims to take a deeper dive to shine a light on why she is such an important member of Melbourne’s team and perhaps show some of the AFLW community why she should stop being so underrated.

Sarah Lampard stats vs GWS – Round 2 2026

From the fundamentals to the football IQ, Lampard displayed many of her strengths on the weekend against the Giants. They were particularly on show in the first quarter as GWS came out of the blocks firing, and were leading in a number of key areas at quarter time despite being behind on the scoreboard. These included time in forward half (58% to 42%) and inside 50s (10 to 7).

Lampard has a kicking ability that is long, powerful and accurate, which is perfect for playing on the last line of defence and needing to clear the ball out of defence.

One of Lampard’s arguably biggest strengths – which does not really get acknowledged in even the biggest name players – is her positioning around the contest.

She never gets sucked into the contest, rather positioning herself to receive the disposal out of the pack and quickly get Melbourne out of a tight situation.

She is also good at positioning herself in relation to the person with possession, putting herself in a position to be most useful to the team in terms of advancing the ball into attack.

She is also really strong in the air, able to spoil the ball at a pretty high point in the flight path despite not always being the taller player in the contest. She is also a good reader of the flight of the ball, which helps in both those types of situations and other marking situations when she is able to intercept the ball coming into the opposition’s forward 50 arc.

All of this shows a strong level of football intelligence in ways that cannot be measured on a stats sheet.

It is also clear to anyone that watches that she provides a calming presence to the rest of her fellow defenders. Nothing seems to phase Lampard, and in an area of the ground with plenty of potential for heated moments and players to get stressed, having someone who is so calm under pressure and unphased can be very useful.