Retired AFLW star turned football commentator Abbey Holmes has been appointed to the AFL's All-Australian selection panel.
Holmes will replace former Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling who has relinquished his place on the panel after 11 years.
Holmes, a 2017 Crows premiership winner, is just the second female to sit on the panel, alongside AFL executive general manager Laura Kane.
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The All-Australian selection panel judges who should be included in the AFL's squad and team of the year, based on the efforts of the competition's players across the entire season.
The committee also selects the mark of the year, the AFL goal of the year and the Ron Evans medal for the 2024 AFL Rising Star Award.
Holmes was a judge for the 2022 Norm Smith Medal and served on the weekly selection panel for the 2023 AFL Rising Star.
She was drafted to the Adelaide Crows in 2017, playing each game of the inaugural AFLW season before transitioning into media post-football.
Last year's panel included Gillon McLachlan (chairperson), Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, Kane Cornes, Andrew Dillon, Glen Jakovich, Kane, Ling and Matthew Pavlich.
Dillion replaced McLachlan as CEO of the AFL at the end of the 2023 season and is therefore the new chair of the panel.
As a result, former player and AFL general manager of football operations Josh Mahoney also joins the panel for this season.
AFL talent ambassador and life member Kevin Sheehan is also a selector for the AFL Rising Star Award alongside the weekly panel of Buckley, Bolton, Cornes, Holmes, Ned Guy and Joel Selwood.
Dillion congratulated Holmes on her appointment and thanked Ling for his lengthy service to the process.
"Abbey has enjoyed a decorated playing career and is now in her ninth season as an expert commentator and boundary rider with Channel Seven. She analyses the game up close on a weekly basis," he said in an AFL statement.
"We are delighted to have someone with her level of experience on the panel and her contributions will be incredibly valuable in selecting the best-performed players of the 2024 season.
"On behalf of the AFL, I would like to thank Cameron Ling for his dedication and service as a selector over the past 11 seasons."
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