Lauren Arnell (born 15 March 1987) is a retired

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and senior coach of the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

in the

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

competition, having previously played for Carlton and the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

. She served as Carlton's inaugural AFLW team captain in the 2017 season and won the 2021 premiership with the Brisbane Lions, before becoming 's inaugural coach in 2022.

Early life and state league football

Arnell played just one football match as a junior, in a school tournament in her last year of primary school. A talented state-level junior

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

er, Arnell next played football in 2005 while studying to be a teacher in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

. Arnell first played football competitively for North Ballarat before moving to the

Darebin Falcons The Darebin Women's Sports Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is a sports club based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne that is primarily notable for its women's Australian rules football, Australian rules football team which competes in the highest- ...

in the

Victorian Women's Football League The Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) was the oldest and largest Australian rules football league for women in the world, consisting of 47 clubs from Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia across seven divisions with a total of over ...

(VWFL) where she would win nine league premierships through the end of 2016. In 2010, Arnell was selected as one of forty players to participate in the women's AFL high-performance camp. As part of the program she played in a curtain-raiser exhibition match ahead of the round 12, 2010 AFL match between and . She has represented Victoria at the AFL Women's National Championship on six occasions and been selected three times as an All-Australian. Arnell was drafted by the with the twelfth overall pick in the 2013 exhibition series draft. She played for the club in exhibition series matches through the end of 2016.

Playing career

Carlton

Arnell was signed as a priority player by Carlton in August 2016 ahead of the league's inaugural 2017 season. She had previously worked at the club in an off-field role, including in the development of Carlton's bid for a women's team licence. She was named the club's inaugural AFL Women's captain in January 2017. She made her debut in round 1,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, in the club and the league's inaugural match at Princes Park against . Carlton signed Arnell for the 2018 season during the trade period in May 2017. She was replaced as captain by Brianna Davey in 2018, instead taking on the role of co-vice captain that season.

Brisbane

On 28 May 2018, Arnell moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in a three-way deal in which Carlton received pick 40 and Collingwood received Nicole Hildebrand. Ahead of the

2021 AFL Women's season The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, compr ...

, Arnell made the decision to retire at the end of the season, a decision she announced in April 2021, following Brisbane's 18-point victory over

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

to claim the premiership.

Coaching career

Port Adelaide

Arnell was appointed as the inaugural coach of 's AFLW side in April 2022, making her the first former AFLW player to become a senior coach.

Statistics

Playing

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, , 13 , , 7 , , 2 , , 2 , , 60 , , 24 , , 84 , , 11 , , 26 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.6 , , 3.4 , , 12.0 , , 1.6 , , 3.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , 13 , , 4 , , 2 , , 1 , , 21 , , 6 , , 27 , , 7 , , 10 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 5.3 , , 1.5 , , 6.8 , , 1.8 , , 2.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , 16 , , 7 , , 0 , , 0 , , 58 , , 30 , , 88 , , 15 , , 32 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.3 , , 4.3 , , 12.6 , , 2.1 , , 4.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 The year 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 even ...

, , 16 , , 7 , , 2 , , 3 , , 49 , , 31 , , 80 , , 16 , , 17 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 7.0 , , 4.4 , , 11.4 , , 2.3 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , 16 , , 11 , , 3 , , 4 , , 91 , , 39 , , 130 , , 26 , , 31 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 8.3 , , 3.5 , , 11.8 , , 2.4 , , 2.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 36 ! 9 ! 10 ! 279 ! 130 ! 409 ! 75 ! 116 ! 0.3 ! 0.3 ! 7.8 ! 3.6 ! 11.4 ! 2.1 ! 3.2

Coaching

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2023 season'' , - , 2022 (S7) , , , , 10 , , 1 , , 8 , , 1 , , 10.0% , , 17 , , 18 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 10 , , 2 , , 7 , , 1 , , 20.0% , , 15 , , 18 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals !! 20 !! 3 !! 15 !! 2 !! 15.0% !! colspan=2,

Personal life

Arnell grew up on a cattle farm in the Victorian town of Clarkefield, 46 kilometres northwest of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. She spent her later teenage years in Lakes Entrance in the state's east. She is one of a set of triplets. Arnell studied physical education teaching at the

University of Ballarat The University of Ballarat, Australia was a dual-sector university with multiple campuses in Victoria, Australia, including its main Ballarat campus, Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide that were authorized by the university to provide diploma, un ...

and has previously worked as a school teacher. She is the niece of former player, Ray Walker. In July 2023 Arnell and her partner Lexi announced that Arnell was pregnant. Off-field Arnell works as AFL Victoria's education and training manager.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnell, Lauren Living people 1987 births Carlton Football Club (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian schoolteachers Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Darebin Falcons players LGBTQ players of Australian rules football LGBTQ people from Victoria (state) Australian lesbian sportswomen AFL Women's coaches