Danielle 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 1 ...

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

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

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) ** Sm ...

. 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 AFL Women's, Australian rules football women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2019 AFL Women's season, 2019 season. As i ...

and made her debut in round 2 of the 2019 season. She was nominated for the

2019 AFL Women's Rising Star The 2019 NAB AFL Women's Rising Star award was presented to the player adjudged the best young player during the 2019 AFL Women's season. Madison Prespakis of the Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a pr ...

award in round 4.

Early life

Ponter was born in

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

. 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 Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

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 the Norm Smith Medallist from 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 semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory. The league is one of few (and the highest level) Australian Rules competitions played during ...

(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 ...

for the Thunder Devils (a combined

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

–

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

team) at 14. She competed at the next three championships and additionally played for the Central Allies in a

state of origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

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. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football Le ...

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 state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, 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 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. 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

award after kicking two goals.

References

External links

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