NELL Morris-Dalton's seven and a bit AFLW seasons have seen her drafted with pick No.6, diagnosed with autism, suffer serious injuries to both sides of her back, play 41 games for three different clubs, get traded, delisted, play VFLW, given a lifeline on the eve of a season, and fall out of and then back in love with football. 

In that time, she's built a career as a nurse with the Royal Melbourne Hospital working across different floors (with a preference for the trauma ward), and developed what for some would be a lifetime of hobbies, including gardening, skateboarding, pottery making, carpentry and bike-riding.

She's one of the most engaging characters within the AFLW world, and in the space of three matches in 2026, is finally playing with the freedom, confidence and happiness that had eluded her for so many seasons, having  now realised a delisting isn't the end of the world.

A true born-and-raised northsider who went to Northcote High and played with Maddy Guerin at Fitzroy juniors (coincidentally, then filling her spot on Carlton's list as an injury replacement player), Morris-Dalton always felt Carlton was her spiritual home.

After her delisting by Collingwood at the end of last year, she took two months to refresh, going on holiday with partner Emelia, before joining the Blues' VFLW team under Aasta O'Connor, with whom she had briefly crossed over at Darebin.

"The delisting conversations with Collingwood was hard, and I had to process it and move on, but I was in a space where because of my injury, I wasn't really enjoying footy and felt lost in it," Morris-Dalton told AFL.com.au.

"As much as I was dreading going Carlton's VFLW team initially, because it's obviously a big shift, it was the best thing that happened to me, because I had to go back, played 12 games, got some consistency, and it took the pressure off. My only goal was to have fun. Credit to Aasta and everyone for respecting me and giving me space, I joined in February-March instead of December. I stripped it right back and put no expectation on it and just showed up and enjoyed it, but didn't take it home with me in the same way I did in AFLW.

"Aasta's given me a lot of grace. I know her personality well and I find it funny, I know not to push her in certain ways and how to engage with her. She was good friends with some of my friends at Geelong, like Denby Taylor, so I knew her through that. She's a northsider as well, so we share a lot of views."

The Morris-Dalton who was drafted to the Western Bulldogs at 18 is a world away from the woman who signed a replacement contract with Carlton on the eve of the 2026 AFLW season.

"Once I left school, I was diagnosed with autism, OCD and aspects of ADHD. I've now seen a psych for years, and they've really helped me. I found high school quite easy because I'd worked out the patterns, there was timetables and rote learning. It wasn't really until I got into the footy environment and started my uni degree that it was like, 'woah'. I would find myself in situations where people would perceive me in a way that I wasn't intending on presenting, it would be a misunderstanding. At footy, I'd get to round one and wasn't getting a game, and wouldn't know why," she said.

"I struggled with a lot of things that people would find pretty straightforward and would be expected of you – unless I was told something, I didn't have any initiative to do it. I wound up in a bit of trouble because of things I wasn't even aware were happening. It wasn't until I had to have disappointing conversations, it would all come to light, and that would be really difficult. 

"Once I know about it, I can implement it. There were little things like eye contact – and this happened at the start of my nursing career, too – they thought because I wasn't looking people in the eye, that I wasn't engaged or listening. In footy, I wouldn't have the initiative to go and do skills, because I'm so literal, that I need to be told. I never had the idea I had to do it, because my brain works rigidly."

Carlton has partnered with The Inclusion Project to create a dedicated sensory space at Ikon Park home AFLW matches, something which Morris-Dalton roundly supports.

"I know what most of my triggers are. I can hear everything at once; if there's five different conversations in a room, I can usually hear at least four of them, word-for-word. Overhead lights – I wear a hat most of the time to block them. I often have a fidget toy to focus my energy into that, or just remove myself from the space if it's too much. Or I'll just be honest with the person I'm talking to – 'I'm listening, but I'm also hearing this over here'," she said.

"When I was picked up by Carlton, I told them straight away, 'it may look like I'm not looking at you, but I am listening and focusing'. I just created flags with the staff early and asking them to come to me with any issues straight away. 

"Footy environments can be really loud, and you're around people all the time, so that's why it's important to have a quiet space where you can go and recharge."

Morris-Dalton played four seasons for just 20 matches at the Western Bulldogs, before being traded to Collingwood. A full 10-match season followed in her first year at the Pies, before devastating consecutive back injuries wiped out her 2024 season and had her struggling for form in 2025.

"I had a back niggle going on for most of pre-season in 2024, and it was worsening a bit, but I had no idea it was actually fracturing. A week or two before pre-season, I kicked the footy, and in that moment, I fell over, had pins and needles and was in so much pain as soon as my foot made contact. I knew I'd cooked my back," Morris-Dalton said.

"I completely broke the L5 vertebra on my left side. It's technically now a chronic injury and is filled with scar tissue, but I don't really feel it. At the time, it was scary. It was a rare footy injury, and it was life-changing for those few months. I was inactive from footy, I couldn't do my nursing career, and there were so many limitations on my outside life.

"At a certain point, you lean in and try to live like a normal person my age (rather than a footballer) – I did heaps of pottery and really upped my skills there, and spent more time with my family, friends and partner, whom I actually met at pottery. 

"I returned for the (2025) pre-season and feeling a bit paranoid. We had a new doctor, and I asked if we could get a scan, because I could feel something was a bit weird. Turned out I had bone stress on the other side. I'd felt like I was flying, and then I was in rehab for another three months over pre-season. That was worse, because I'd already gained the perspective, and was grateful it had happened, but then had to go back to rehab for a back that wasn't actually that sore."

Things improved for Morris-Dalton when she linked in with former Cricket Australia head physio Alex Kountouris, who was very used to treating fast bowlers' broken backs, and was quick to reassure the footballer her career wasn't over.

She missed the first two matches of 2025, but played out the rest of the season.

Out of contract, the fear of failure and delisting hung heavy, compounding her every on-field error. Playing as a deep forward in a struggling team wasn't ideal, either, and come November, her fears were founded when the Pies didn't offer another deal.

"When you're at the back-end of a contract, it was similar to coming back from my back, so many 'what ifs', and you put so much pressure on your game. 'I'm out of contract, I have to play well, I've dropped that mark, I'm going to have to get the next one', and you're thinking 10 steps ahead to the moment you're going to get delisted," Morris-Dalton said.

"It's pure fear. I've been [in the AFLW] since I've been 18, and yes, I've got a balanced life and I pride myself on that, but at the end of the day, it's all I've known. It was super daunting, and every time I had a bad game, there was fear of being delisted.

"It was terrible getting delisted, those initial conversations, and sitting with those emotions. You have so many friends and relationships that have formed, and they're still in [the football world]. I knew, deep down, I was still at the level and it wasn't past me. 

"I'd be lying if I said I was loving VFLW initially. It's really difficult and hard to go back to working in the day and training at night. Nursing always gives me heaps of perspective, and really balances me out, because you see what people are actually dealing with, and it's unbelievable. I have a great group of friends, and I enjoy being out in the normal world, because you're in a bubble in footy. It gave me good perspective. I missed the social aspects, and having exercise as my job, but I didn't miss dealing with my back and head noise.

"Now I'm back, and I know if I get delisted at the end of the year, it's going to be disappointing, but I'm going to be fine. I'm not dreading being dropped, it won't be the end of the world – I'll work my way back into the team, and if I don't, it's all good. I'm still here kicking a footy and getting paid. 

"It's reduced all the things that were happening to me mentally. Carlton have a really strong culture here, which has helped because I've been able to fit in straight away." 

The autism diagnosis, the back injuries, the comebacks, the delistings and now the career-best form – through it all, Morris-Dalton has remained "Nell", skateboarding through the streets of the northern suburbs, with her Brunswick-coded fashion and varied hobbies.

"From 18 to now, I've changed a lot. I've learned how to manage who I am, in a way, and adapted to the environments that I'm part of," she said.

"But for the most part, I've always stayed true to myself, and I think that's something I'm proud of. All the things that has happened in my footy career, it hasn't changed who I am (at my core). I've stayed true, and I'm consistent."

Carlton hosts Collingwood at Ikon Park this Sunday at 3.05pm AEST. Get tickets here