Nina Morrison (born 13 December 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 the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

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). A midfielder who won multiple accolades at junior level and played in the

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 ...

(VFLW) as a teenager, Morrison was the first selection 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 ...

. She received a nomination for the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award in round 1 of the 2019 season, her debut match.

Early life

Morrison attended

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

and grew up a supporter, citing

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a four-time premiership player ( including one time as captain), a six-ti ...

and

Patrick Dangerfield Patrick Dangerfield (born 5 April 1990) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Adelaide Football Club from 2008 to 2015. He has s ...

as players she enjoyed watching. A

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

in her youth who also played

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

at school, Morrison did not take up football until her father encouraged her to attend a Geelong trial in late 2016. Although she was unavailable for the under-18 trials as they conflicted with tennis commitments, she instead attended the senior trials, where she impressed Geelong representatives by outplaying the older women. Morrison joined the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition in Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warr ...

, playing in the TAC Cup Girls, and represented Vic Country in the 2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships. Additionally, she played for local club St Mary's, kicking thirty-five goals in eight games playing as a midfielder in the under-19 AFL Barwon league. In 2018, Morrison won the TAC Cup Girls premiership with the Falcons and tied with

Madison Prespakis Madison Prespakis (born 2 November 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She previously played for the Carlton Football Club from 2019 to season 6. A midfielder who won multipl ...

for the league

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 ...

with 16 votes. She again played for Vic Country in the 2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships and won their most valuable player award. Morrison was named in the All-Australian side on the wing, and shared the competition's most valuable player award with Prespakis. She played four

(VFLW) matches for the , including a best-on-ground performance against in the elimination final and the losing grand final against , where she was again among the best. Morrison tested at the AFL Women's draft combine, breaking records in the two-kilometre time trial and the yo-yo endurance test. She reached level 18.1 in the yo-yo test and ran the time trial in seven minutes and fourteen seconds, fifteen seconds faster than the previous record. Morrison additionally placed in the top five for the standing vertical jump, agility test and running vertical jump (on both the left and right sides). In the lead-up to the draft, Morrison was widely predicted to be taken by with the first selection. Draft prospects selected a state or region they wished to play in prior to the draft; options for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

n players included

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

metropolitan area or the entire state. Morrison opted for Geelong while Prespakis, another top prospect, nominated the metropolitan area; this improved Morrison's chances of being taken with the first selection in the draft, as Geelong held the first two selections. Morrison currently studies a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

AFL Women's career

Morrison was drafted by Geelong with the first selection in the

. Ahead of 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 polled the most votes by the AFLW captains as their predicted winner of the 2019 AFL Women's Rising Star award. Morrison made her debut in the opening round of the season against at GMHBA Stadium, where she was nominated for the AFL Women's Rising Star award after accumulating 22 disposals and eight tackles and kicking the winning behind in a best-on-ground performance. Morrison also polled the maximum ten votes in the AFLW Champion Player of the Year Award and was named in ''women's.afls Team of the Week. However, she ruptured the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in her right knee at training the following week, which required a

reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. After missing the rest of the 2019 season, Morrison made a successful return to football in round 1 of the 2020 season against at

Fremantle Oval Fremantle Oval, also known by naming rights sponsorship as Fremantle Community Bank Oval, is a stadium in the centre of Fremantle, Western Australia, located on Parry Street. It currently has a capacity of 17,500 with terracing and a members a ...

, kicking a goal. She went on to play the rest of the season; however, she ruptured the ACL in her right knee for the second time in the final-round loss to . Morrison eventually returned to football in the opening round of 2022 season 6 and was named among Geelong's best players in its loss to North Melbourne. She missed round 2 due to the AFL's health and safety protocols, before returning the following round against Collingwood. Morrison then missed round 4 due to calf soreness, before returning against in round 5, where she was named among Geelong's best players. She was also among Geelong's best players in its loss to in round 6.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the

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, ...

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Honours and achievements

Individual *

AFL Women's Rising Star The AFL Women's Rising Star award is presented annually to the best young player in the AFL Women's (AFLW) during the home-and-away season. The first award was awarded in 2017 AFL Women's Rising Star, 2017. The award has been sponsored by Telstr ...

nominee:

* Geelong Best and fairest:

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Nina 2000 births Living people Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club (AFLW) players Geelong Falcons players (Talent League Girls) People educated at Geelong Grammar School