Dakota Davidson (born 31 December 1998) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

competition (AFLW).

Early life

Davidson was born in

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is an urban centre within the City of Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River (Queensland), Bremer River, it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of the Brisbane central business district. Ipswich is ...

to a family of

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

descent (

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of southwestern Victoria in Australia. They are the Traditional Owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. ...

). Dakota was raised near Limestone Park in central

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

and spent much of her youth playing sport on the local fields there. Dakota attended

Ipswich Girls' Grammar School Ipswich Girls' Grammar School (IGGS) is an Independent school, independent, non-denominational, Day school, day and boarding school for girls in Ipswich, Queensland, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, Queensland, Australia. The school is one of t ...

throughout her upbringing. She began playing Australian rules at the age of 18 encouraged by her father who was familiar with the sport having moved from western Victoria at a young age. The club Dakota first played for was

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

in the

AFL Queensland Women's League The Queensland Australian Football League Women's (QAFLW) is the highest-ranked Australian rules football women's league in Queensland. It provides elite women footballers the opportunity to play in a semi-professional environment. Many players ...

. After 3 season in the league Dakota was identified as a talented forward/ruck by the Brisbane Lions having kicked 11 goals in 11 games and was selected to play in 2 games in the AFL Queensland QW Winter Series in the run up to the national draft. Dakota was drafted by with the 60th pick in the

2019 AFL Women's draft The 2019 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the 14 clubs in the AFL Women's competition can recruit players prior to the competition's 2020 season. At the conclusion of the period clubs were required to have 27 senior-lis ...

AFLW career

Davidson made her debut in the Lions' round 1 game against at

Hickey Park Hickey Park is an Australian rules football ground in Stafford, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the primary home ground for Wilston Grange in the Queensland Australian Football League. It has also been featured in the AFL Wom ...

on 8 February 2020. She had her best game for the

2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, compr ...

in the Lions' round two 63 point victory over , where she kicked 4 goals. She starred in the Lions' 2021 preliminary final win over Collingwood with a three-goal performance to help her team qualify for the

2021 AFL Women's Grand Final The 2021 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held at the Adelaide Oval on 17 April to determine the premiers of the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. The match was contested by the Adelaide Crows a ...

. Davidson signed on with for two more years on 15 June 2021.

Statistics

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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References

External links

* * 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Ipswich, Queensland Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub