“I’M A little bit numb.”
Just 10 days ago, the thought of Nell Morris-Dalton pulling on the Carlton jumper in the AFLW season opener at Marvel Stadium was incomprehensible.
Impossible.
Until it wasn’t.
Morris-Dalton wasn’t even on the Carlton AFLW list until a week and a half ago. Prior to that, she was one of the VFLW side’s most important players and was preparing for a hopeful finals campaign at state league level.
She didn’t even consider the possibility of an AFLW Round 1 debut until she was told in a player meeting by Gab Pound during the week.
“Even when I got the initial call-up, all I could do was sit in the office with ‘Bucky’ - I couldn’t believe it, and was in a bit of shock initially. It’s been a big year: I had just adjusted to not having AFLW footy in my life for the first time since I was 18,” Morris-Dalton told Carlton Media this week.
“Gab was talking about a former player who had a sizzling left foot… I was sitting there going ‘Who else is left-footed?’. Then when she mentioned that I’d only got here one week ago, I was just shocked. I’m so happy.
“My main goal for this year was just to go back and have some fun playing footy, going back to what I used to feel with it - I got a bit lost with that in the past few years. I definitely found some confidence and my joy in the game again, which was what I needed.”
Despite always playing her football in Melbourne, Morris-Dalton’s AFLW journey has been one well-travelled. Initially starting out at Fitzroy, the Northern Knights and Darebin Falcons, she was drafted to the Western Bulldogs with pick No.6 before making her way to Collingwood.
If the cards were dealt a different way, Morris-Dalton could’ve indeed found herself at the Blues rather than the Pies when she made the switch in 2023, where she was the Pies’ leading goalkicker in her first season.
Morris-Dalton opted for the Pies then, but now finds herself at the Club which she always had a soft spot for, with her stint at with the VFLW Blues affirming that hunch from the outset.
“It was between Carlton and Collingwood… now, I’m so happy to be here. I actually always felt like I had a connection to Carlton, they’re such a loveable club and the culture the group has is amazing.
“I grew up pretty local in Northcote and I’ve lived in Brunswick for years, so I’ve always been around here. I’ve driven past IKON Park so many times thinking ‘It’d be so good to play footy there’.
“I chose to play VFL footy here, and that wasn’t just because I was living close, but to also get my foot in the door at a new space. As soon as I came here, the way the Club treated me and the program made me feel really comfortable.”
When Morris-Dalton runs out onto Marvel Stadium, she becomes Carlton player No.101 as one of three Club debutants for the day, joining Brooke Boileau and Claudia Whitfort. It will be her 39th AFLW game, and definitely one of the sweetest.
Earlier in the week, she was asking questions about the VFLW game in Tasmania, unaware that discussions and decision had already been had around a new chapter beginning in AFLW football.
“I was preparing to head to Tassie for the VFLW game. I went into ‘Bucky’s’ office on Wednesday morning asking what the go was for the trip, and he couldn’t really look at me. I was trying to plan my week and everyone kept saying to me that they didn’t know.
“I don’t know if it’ll sink in until just before the game or just after the game.
“I was already trying to let it sink in that I was playing footy again as my job: this is definitely the best one you can get. I thought it’d be a few weeks, play in the VFL and it’ll eventually sink in… I think I need to fast track that process!”
