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Maeve Chaplin (born 22 August 2002) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women’s (AFLW).[1]

Early career

Growing up in Melbourne‘s northern suburbs, Chaplin originally played her junior football for West Preston Lakeside Football Club in the Northern Football League.

She then represented the Northern Knights in the Talent League Girls competition, where she won a premiership. She later represented Vic Metro in the 2021 AFL Women’s Under-19 Championships in her draft year,[2] but was overlooked in the 2019 and 2020 drafts.

AFL Women’s career

Chaplin celebrates with her premiership medal following the 2022 S7 Grand Final

Chaplin was added to Melbourne’s rookie list as a replacement signing after Isabella Simmons’s foot injury ruled her out for the 2022 season 6.[3]

After a year on Melbourne’s rookie list without a senior appearance, she was delisted by the club with a commitment to a senior list position through the 2022 draft. She returned to the Demons with the 44th overall pick in the draft.[4] The next season, Chaplin made her AFLW debut in round one against Adelaide at Glenelg Oval. She would go on to make 12 senior appearances in season 7 and become a premiership player when Melbourne defeated Brisbane in the Grand Final.

Following a career-best 2025 season in which she played every home-and-away game for the Demons, Chaplin was named in the All-Australian team.[5] However, on the eve of Melbourne’s finals series, Chaplin injured her hamstring and missed both the qualifying final and the semi-final.[6] She returned for the preliminary final,[7] but the Demons went down to eventual premiers North Melbourne.

Statistics

Updated to the end of the 2025 season.[8]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
  #  
 Played in that season’s 
premiership team
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2022 (S6) Melbourne – 0 – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
2022 (S7)# Melbourne 13[9] 12 0 1 56 32 88 11 23 0.0 0.1 4.7 2.7 7.3 0.9 1.9
2023 Melbourne 13 9 0 1 43 30 73 11 21 0.0 0.1 4.8 3.3 8.1 1.2 2.3
2024 Melbourne 13 11 0 0 100 50 150 29 31 0.0 0.0 9.1 4.5 13.6 2.6 2.8
2025 Melbourne 13 13 1 0 169 68 237 45 52 0.1 0.0 13.0 5.2 18.2 3.5 4.0
Career 45 1 2 368 180 548 96 127 0.0 0.0 8.2 4.0 12.2 2.1 2.8

References

  1. ^ “Maeve Chaplin | AFL”. melbournefc.com.au. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  2. ^ “Chaplin takes AFLW draft, Year 12 stress in her stride”. The Herald Sun. 3 October 2020.
  3. ^ Black, Sarah (5 January 2022). “Overlooked defender gets her chance at the Dees”. AFL.com.au.
  4. ^ “Two years in one: Chaplin’s rise in the red and blue”. Melbourne Media. 17 November 2022.
  5. ^ “All Australian Team | Dees trio named”. Melbourne Media. 24 November 2025.
  6. ^ “Huge Dees blow with important defender set to miss qualifying final”. AFL.com.au. 7 November 2025.
  7. ^ Bastiani, Gemma (20 November 2025). “AFLW PRELIM TEAMS: Zanker returns, huge Roos boost, Dees’ defender call”. AFL.com.au.
  8. ^ “Maeve Chaplin | AFLW Stats”. AFLW Stats. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
  9. ^ “AFLW jumper numbers revealed”. Melbourne Media. 10 August 2022.