Elise O'Dea (born 4 September 1991) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

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). She served as Melbourne co-captain for the 2019 season.

Early life

O'Dea was born in Canberra in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

(ACT) to a family of Melbourne Football Club supporters and started playing football at fourteen years of age when she joined the Belconnen Magpies Football Club women's team. She made her senior debut in round one of the 2006 season against Ainslie in the AFL Canberra Women's competition. She was selected as part of the ACT representative teams in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011. O'Dea was also named part of the 2011 All-Australian women's team, and won both her club and league's best and fairest awards in 2012.

Football career

O'Dea moved to

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 ...

in 2013 to join the

Darebin Falcons The Darebin Women's Sports Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and primarily notable for its Australian rules football team which competes in the highest-level Victorian state league – the VFL Women's (VF ...

. Wearing number 30 and playing on the wing and half forward flank, was named as part of the Victorian state teams in 2013 and 2014, and was selected to play for both the Melbourne Football Club and

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

as part of a series of women's exhibition games.

AFL Women's

In 2016, O'Dea became the first player drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the first AFLW draft and wore the number five guernsey in her debut season. Prior to the start of the season, she was announced as one of two vice-captains for Melbourne, alongside Melissa Hickey. She made her debut during round 1 of the 2017 season against at

Casey Fields Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, soccer, tennis, cycling, ...

. In the round four match against , she collected twenty-seven disposals. At the end of the 2017 season, O'Dea was nominated by her teammates for the AFL Players' Most Valuable Player Award. She was also listed in the 2017 All-Australian team. Melbourne signed O'Dea for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. In December 2018, O'Dea and Shelley Scott were announced as Melbourne co-captains. Following the conclusion of the 2020 season both O'Dea and fellow Demon Maddy Guerin were traded to the

in exchange for Pick 15 in the 2020 NAB AFLW Draft.

Statistics

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, , 5 , , 7 , , 1 , , 1 , , 82 , , 53 , , 135 , , 20 , , 32 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 11.7 , , 7.6 , , 19.3 , , 2.9 , , 4.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 7 ! 1 ! 1 ! 82 ! 53 ! 135 ! 20 ! 32 ! 0.1 ! 0.1 ! 11.7 ! 7.6 ! 19.3 ! 2.9 ! 4.6

Personal life

Outside football, O'Dea works as an accountant.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ODea, Elise 1991 births Melbourne Football Club (AFLW) players Sportspeople from Canberra Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) All-Australians (AFL Women's) Australian accountants Darebin Falcons players Carlton Football Club (AFLW) players