Lauren Bella (born 12 September 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 the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

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 ...

competition (AFLW). She has previously played for

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Early life

Bella was born in

Mackay, Queensland } Mackay () is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensland ...

. Her father,

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonia (gens), Antonii'', a ''gens'' (Roman naming conventions, Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were ...

, was a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player for the

South Queensland Crushers The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, a ...

, and her uncle,

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

, also played rugby league professionally, representing

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

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 ...

as well as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in international competitions. Lauren began playing

as a child, but had to stop playing when the local competition no longer allowed girls to compete in mixed teams with boys. Bella then picked up

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

in high school, and excelled so much that she was placed in the 2017/18 Netball Queensland's Elite Development Program. Despite finding success in netball, she returned to play football for Bakers Creek in the local

AFL Mackay AFL Mackay is an amateur Australian rules football competition formed as the Mackay Australian Football League in 1970. It is headquartered in the city of Mackay with further clubs in Airlie Beach, Sarina, Alligator Creek, Pioneer Valley and Mo ...

competition in 2017, and accepted an invitation to join the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

developmental academy in 2018. She relocated to the Gold Coast in early 2018 to play club football for

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher ed ...

in the QAFLW competition and fulfil her academy commitments with the Suns. The decision paid off when the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

drafted her with the 45th pick 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 ...

AFLW career

Bella made her debut in the Lions' round-one game against

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...

Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex is a sports field complex in Burpengary, a suburb of the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia primarily for both Australian rules football and soccer. It was built and opened in 2013 and are managed by C ...

on 3 February 2019. In April 2019, Bella joined expansion club

. In an interview she disclosed she is legally blind and requires a customised pair of contacts to see. Bella had a breakout season in 2021, leading the league for hitouts up until the finals, as well as the average for the whole season.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2021 season.'' , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

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 ...

, , 32 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , 13 , , 15 , , 0 , , 6 , , 50 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.7 , , 4.3 , , 5.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 16.7 , , 0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

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- ...

, , 2 , , 7 , , 0 , , 0 , , 16 , , 21 , , 37 , , 6 , , 10 , , bgcolor=FFBBFF , 130^‡ , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.3 , , 3.0 , , 5.3 , , 0.9 , , 1.4 , , bgcolor=FA8072 , 18.6^§ , , 0 , - style="background:#EAEAEA" , scope="row" text-align:center ,

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 ...

, , 2 , , 9 , , 0 , , 0 , , 26 , , 32 , , 58 , , 12 , , 19 , , style="background:#CAE1FF" , 190^† , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.9 , , 3.6 , , 6.4 , , 1.3 , , 2.1 , , bgcolor=FA8072 , 21.1^§ , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3 , Career ! 19 ! 0 ! 0 ! 44 ! 66 ! 110 ! 18 ! 35 ! 370 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 2.3 ! 3.5 ! 5.8 ! 0.9 ! 1.8 ! 19.5 ! 0

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. The award has been sponsored by National Australia Bank (NAB) since ...

nominee:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bella, Lauren 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Mackay, Queensland Sportswomen from Queensland Australian rules footballers from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Gold Coast Football Club (AFLW) players