Nina Morrison has paid tribute to her teammates who guided her through some dark moments in the early stages of her AFLW career as she prepares for her 50th game tomorrow (Friday) night when Geelong hosts Kuwarna (Adelaide) at GMHBA Stadium.
The talented midfielder suffered two ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments in as many years at the start of her career, limiting her to just seven games in the Cats’ first three seasons in the competition.
“It feels a long way away now,” Morrison said.
“I think the first one (knee reconstruction) was pretty cruisy.
“Come the second one, that’s when you start to question, “What does my career and journey kind of look like?”.
“I felt pretty fortunate around that time to have some pretty good people around me and to lean on the support of the club, and my teammates, and that sort of thing.
“You find a way through it, and over the last couple of years, it feels like a bit of a distant memory.”
Morrison will become the seventh player to pull on the Hoops for a 50th time at the AFLW level and, at age 23, is the youngest.
Despite her relative youth, the regard she is held in by her teammates and the club has seen her serve as vice-captain since 2022.
For Morrison, it’s a role she relishes, especially in the midfield.
“The last two seasons, in particular, I’ve taken a bit more onus with that sort of stuff and been able to look around the midfield group and want to be the player that’s helping to drive that,” she said.
“It’s such an exciting young group in there as well.
“To get to work so closely with Amy (McDonald) and ‘Pres’ (Georgie Prespakis), in particular, and the energy they have, I want to feel that I’m helping develop and drive their careers forward, too.
“It’s been an exciting part of my journey to build on that leadership space, and feel like I can impact those teammates.”
However, Morrison played down suggestions she is the logical replacement for Meghan McDonald, who will turn 34 in the middle of next year.
“It’s not something I’ve thought about too closely, to be honest,” she said.
“We’ve kind of discussed within the club as well the real strength of our side is the depth of leadership and people that contribute to our program.
“That’ll land where it may when Meg does step away, but it’s not something I’ve thought about too closely.”
Geelong enters the final week of the home-and-away season clinging on to hopes of sneaking a finals berth.
The Cats need to beat the Crows for the first time and then have Collingwood and Carlton upset Melbourne and Essendon, respectively.
Even if Geelong does watch on for the remainder of November, Morrison is “super excited” about the future.
“To finish the year the way that we have, and, hopefully, have a strong performance on Friday night as well, gives us a great opportunity to set ourselves up going forward,” she said.
“We’ve had a few injuries over the course of the year. Maybe (we’ll) get some of those players back in coming years and have a healthier list for a bigger chunk of the year.
“But, I think, in terms of who we have in this group already and what we can achieve, the possibilities are really there.
“And I think the group feels energised by that as well, and will feel energised by that coming into those Friday night, too.”
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