Tom Nicholls is a former professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the

Gold Coast Football Club 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 the ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was one of the club's underage recruits, and played in the Gold Coast's first season. Nicholls made his debut in Round 8 of the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sev ...

, against . During that game he played against his girlfriend's brother,

Kurt Tippett Kurt Anthony Tippett (born 8 May 1987) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans. He also played for the Adelaide Football Club between 2007 and 2012. Tippett represented Queensland in under-18 basketb ...

Early life

Nicholls was born in

Yarrawonga Yarrawonga is a town in the Shire of Moira local government area in the Australian state of Victoria. The town is situated on the south bank of the Murray River, the border between Victoria and New South Wales, and is located approximately ...

in country Victoria to a Fijian mother and an Australian father. He completed his high school studies at St Bede's College (Mentone) and St Kevin's College in Melbourne.

Junior football

Nicholls attended St Kevin's College in Toorak and began playing his junior football for the Cheltenham Junior Football Club in Melbourne. He later moved to the

Sandringham Dragons The Sandringham Dragons are an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham, Victoria, representing the souther ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...

for the 2009 season. At the completion of the 2009 season, Nicholls signed for the newly formed

GC17 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 ...

team that would compete in the VFL for the 2010 season.

AFL career

Nicholls made his AFL debut for the Gold Coast Suns against the

Adelaide Crows 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 Round 8 of the

. A knee injury kept him out of the team for the rest of the 2011 season. Nicholls was the Round 16 nomination for the 2013 AFL Rising Star award. He was selected as the ruckman in the AFL Players' Association's inaugural 22under22 team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Tom 1992 births Living people Gold Coast Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Sandringham Dragons players People from Victoria (Australia) People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne