Nina Morrison (born 13 December 2000) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

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

(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 co ...

. 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 , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ...

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 was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

and

Patrick Dangerfield Patrick Dangerfield (born 5 April 1990) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Adelaide Football Club. Drafted by Adelaide in 2007, Dangerfi ...

as players she enjoyed watching. A long-distance runner in her youth who also played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and soccer 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 NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition, Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warrnambo ...

, playing in the TAC Cup Girls, and represented Vic Country in the

2017 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2017 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2017, with six teams competing and with a further three playing in a two-match round-robin series as a de facto Division 2. An Allies side (made up of players from ...

. 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 2022. A midfielder who won multiple ...

for the league best and fairest with 16 votes. She again played for Vic Country in the

2018 AFL Women's Under 18 Championships The 2018 NAB AFL Women's Under-18 Championships was played between May and July 2018, with six teams competing in the main 'Series 2' round robin tournament and with a further four playing in a two-match on-on-one exhibition as the competition's ...

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: * 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 ...

n players included Geelong, the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

AFL Women's career

Morrison was drafted by Geelong with the first selection in the

. Ahead of 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 Mus ...

, 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 ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

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 Unio ...

. 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, 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

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

nominee:

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