Ebony Antonio (born 18 December 1991) 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 the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of ...

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). Antonio represented The Allies in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match in 2017, and won AFL Women's All-Australian selection and the Fremantle fairest and best award in 2018. She also won the Goal of the Year and shared the Western Derby Medal with

Kiara Bowers Kiara Bowers (born 16 November 1991) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Career In July 2016, Bowers was announced as Fremantle's second marquee signing ahead of the inaugural A ...

in 2022.

Early life

Antonio played football and basketball as a junior. Between 2009 and 2011, she played in the

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

(SBL) for the

Willetton Tigers Willetton Tigers is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Willetton Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organi ...

. During this time, she spent two seasons with the

West Coast Waves The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, ...

in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL). In 2012, she moved to

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to play for the

Bendigo Braves Bendigo Braves is a NBL1 South club based in Bendigo, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of the overarching Bendigo Braves Basketball Club, the major administrative basketball organi ...

and

Bendigo Spirit Bendigo Spirit is one of three Victorian basketball teams in the Australian Women's National Basketball League. The team, based in the regional city of Bendigo, Victoria, joined the competition from the 2007/08 season. History The Bendigo Spiri ...

. She played two seasons for both teams, and she was a member of the Spirit's 2012/13 and 2013/14 WNBL championship squads. In 2014, she returned to Perth to play for the Willetton Tigers before re-joining the Waves for 2014/15 season. She continued on with the Tigers in 2015 and 2016. She won championships with Willetton in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2016. She turned her attention to football in 2016, playing with the

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

in the

West Australian Women's Football League The West Australian Women's Football League (WAWFL) was the governing body of women's Australian rules football in the state of Western Australia from 1987 until its dissolution in 2021. It organised the premier women's football league in Wes ...

(WAWFL). Antonio was signed as a priority player by in August 2016 ahead of the league's inaugural 2017 season.

AFL Women's career

Antonio made her debut in round 1, 2017 in the club's inaugural match against at VU Whitten Oval. She was the first player to be suspended in the AFLW, receiving a one-week suspension for a high bump on Bulldogs defender

Jess Gardner Jess Gardner (born 28 May 1985) is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs in the AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules ...

. Antonio returned to play for the Dockers' final five matches of the season. Antonio later played for The Allies in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match against

on 2 September, where she was named among the Allies' best players. Fremantle signed Antonio for the 2018 season during the trade and signing period in May 2017. Antonio had a much improved season in 2018, when she was selected in the

2018 AFL Women's All-Australian team The 2018 AFL Women's All-Australian team represents the best-performed players of the 2018 AFL Women's season. It was announced on 27 March 2018 as a complete women's Australian rules football team of 21 players, the first time that this happen ...

and won the Fremantle fairest and best award. She had minor surgery on her Achilles following the AFLW season, forcing her to miss most of the WAWFL season with Swan Districts. Fremantle signed Antonio for the 2019 season during the trade and signing period in May 2018. Fremantle signed Antonio for the 2020 season during the trade and sign period in April 2019. Leading into the 2020 season, ''womens.afl'' journalist Sarah Black named Antonio at no. 20 on her list of the top 30 players in the AFLW. She was selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week in round 6, and was selected in the initial 40-woman squad for the

2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team The 2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team represents the best-performed players of the 2020 AFL Women's season. It was announced on 27 April 2020 as a complete women's Australian rules football team of 21 players. The team is honorary and does no ...

. Leading into the 2021 season, Sarah Black named Antonio at no. 15 on her annual list of the top 30 players in the AFLW. She was named among Fremantle's best players in its record-breaking

Western Derby The Western Derby () is the name given to the Australian rules football match between the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers, who both participate in the Australian Football League (AFL). As both teams are based in Perth, the capital ...

win over in round 6 with 23 disposals and was selected in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week for that round. In June 2021, Antonio re-signed with the club for two years. In round 1 of the 2022 season, Antonio kicked three goals from twelve disposals, including a Goal of the Year contender in the first quarter, in Fremantle's Western Derby win to share the Western Derby Medal with teammate

; she also won the maximum ten coaches' votes and was named in ''womens.afl''s Team of the Week. Antonio was named among Fremantle's best players in its round 4 win over and was best afield in Fremantle's win over the Western Bulldogs a few days later. She was named among Fremantle's best players in its losses to in round 5 and in round 8. Antonio was one of three late outs for Fremantle heading into its record-breaking loss to Melbourne in round 9 due to the AFL's health and safety protocols, before returning in round 10 against .

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , , 12 , 8 , , 5 , , 5 , , 62 , , 20 , , 82 , , 14 , , 24 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 7.8 , , 2.5 , , 10.3 , , 1.8 , , 3.0 , , 0 , - ,

2020 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 events, COVID- ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , 12 , 11 , , 8 , , 4 , , 102 , , 47 , , 149 , , 33 , , 44 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 9.3 , , 4.3 , , 13.5 , , 3.0 , , 4.0 , , 6 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 49 !! 24 !! 16 !! 404 !! 200 !! 604 !! 141 !! 194 !! 0.5 !! 0.3 !! 8.2 !! 4.1 !! 12.3 !! 2.9 !! 4.0 !! 6

Personal life

Antonio became engaged to Fremantle teammate and captain Kara Donnellan in April 2018, and they married in October 2019.

Honours and achievements

AFL Women's All-Australian team The AFL Women's All-Australian team is an all-star team of women's Australian rules footballers playing in the AFL Women's (AFLW), selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including interchange players and ...

* Fremantle fairest and best: 2018 * Allies representative honours in AFL Women's State of Origin: 2017 * Goal of the Year: 2022 * Western Derby Medal: 2022

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonio, Ebony Living people 1991 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Fremantle Football Club (AFLW) players All-Australians (AFL Women's) LGBT sportspeople from Australia LGBT players of Australian rules football