St Kilda’s AFLW side has nominated a seven-woman leadership group for 2023, led once again by captain Hannah Priest.

Priest, who will serve as skipper for the fourth consecutive season, will be flanked by vice-captain Bianca Jakobsson, trade recruits Steph Chiocci and Natalie Plane, along with Molly McDonald, Hannah Stuart and Nicola Stevens.

McDonald and Stuart served in the club’s Emerging Leaders Group last season before taking the step up to fully-fledged leaders in 2023, while Stevens was voted into the club’s leadership group during her first year in red, white and black.

“We’re immensely proud of this year’s leadership group,” Head of AFLW Tessie McManus said.

“Led ably by our captain Hannah Priest, who embodies what it is to lead both on and off field, we strongly believe this group can help drive the standards required for us to take the next step forward in our football journey.

“We have great diversity among our leadership group in terms of age and experience. Established leaders Steph Chiocci and Natalie Plane bring with them their experiences from other successful clubs, while we’ve also added some of our homegrown talent to the group in Molly McDonald and Hannah Stuart who will be instrumental in pushing us to the next level.

“Over the past few seasons, we’ve also come to know the strength and character of Bianca Jakobsson and Nicola Stevens, who alongside Hannah Priest, have had an undeniable impact on our group.

“When tallying the nominations, our players came to a clear consensus that these seven women were the stand out candidates to lead us forward, and we are eager to see what they will achieve as a collective as we approach the upcoming season.”

Priest said she was honoured to assume the role of captain once again; her third as sole skipper after sharing captaincy duties in 2021.

“I’m really proud to captain the Saints again this season,” Priest said.

“We’re really lucky to have such strong leaders within our playing group who I’m honoured to stand alongside. Having Bianca as vice-captain is a real credit to her toughness and reliability, and she’s been incredible ever since she stepped through the doors at St Kilda.

“We’ve had a fair bit of change within our football club, but we really want to come out strong this season. We need to push higher standards on and off the field and I’m looking forward to seeing our leaders having a big influence on the group.”