Danielle Ann Ponter (born 8 January 2000) 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

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

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 ...

(AFLW). She played for St Mary's and

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in her junior career, typically as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Ponter was selected with pick 48 in the

2018 AFL Women's draft The 2018 AFL Women's (AFLW) draft consisted of the various periods when the ten clubs in the Australian rules football women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2019 season. As in the previous season, all player con ...

and made her debut in round 2 of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. She was nominated for the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award in round 4.

Early life

Ponter was born in

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

. She had a strong footballing background as part of the noted Rioli–Long family; she is the niece of former

player Michael Long and the cousin of former Hawthorn footballer

Cyril Rioli Cyril Rioli (born 14 July 1989) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. Rioli was a member of four premiership teams and was the Norm Smith Medallist in the 2015 ...

. Ponter began playing for St Mary's at 11 in the under-16 female division of

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football competition, operating in Greater Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and the Northern Territory, formerly run by the Northern Territory Football League Incorporated a ...

(NTFL), in the 2011–12 season. She won the Sharyn Smith Medal, the division

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

, in four consecutive seasons. Ponter competed at the 2014

AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships are the annual national Australian rules football championships for women players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the p ...

for the Thunder Devils (a combined

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

–

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

team) at 14. She competed at the next three championships and additionally played for the Central Allies in a state of origin match in 2017 and 2018. Ponter attended the 2018 AFLW draft combine and was a member of the 2018 AFLW Academy, one of twenty-nine seventeen-year-old prospects. She played for Essendon's

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victori ...

side in 2018, kicking six goals in six matches. Ahead of the 2018 AFLW draft, prospects nominated a state or region they wished to play in; Ponter chose

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, meaning Adelaide, as the only South Australian club, was the only team with an opportunity to select her.

AFLW career

Ponter was drafted by Adelaide with pick 48 in the 2018 AFLW draft, their fifth selection. She continued to play in the NTFL prior to the

2019 AFL Women's season The 2019 AFL Women's season was the third season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 2 February to 31 March, com ...

. She was not selected for the opening round of the 2019 season; coach Matthew Clarke acknowledged she was "pretty stiff to miss out". Ponter made her debut the next round, playing as a defender in contrast to her usual position of forward in her junior career. This made her the first member of the Rioli–Long family to play top-level

women's Australian rules football Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL), is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. ...

. She returned to the forward line in round 4 and received a nomination for the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award after kicking two goals. Ponter became a premiership player in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and again in 2022 (season 6). She kicked two of Adelaide's four goals in the 13-point victory over in the 2022 season 6 Grand Final. In

2023 AFL Women's season The 2023 AFL Women's season was the eighth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 1 September to 3 December, ...

, Ponter kicked 20 goals including the finals series, the most memorable of which was a goal from the centre square against . This tally allowed her to overtake

Erin Phillips Erin Victoria Phillips (born 19 May 1985) is an Australian basketball player and former Australian rules football player. She played nine seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for five different teams and is a two-time ...

as the Crows' all-time leading goalscorer. In the same year, Ponter earned her first

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

selection. She kicked a career-best five goals in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

against at

Unley Oval Unley Oval is a multi-use, community owned stadium in Unley, an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a popular community recreation oval and greenspace and is used for lower-grade South Australian Grade Cricket League mat ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponter, Danielle Living people 2000 births St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) players Adelaide Football Club (AFLW) players Rioli family Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Australian rules footballers from Darwin, Northern Territory