How local club Morphettville Park helped Crows superstar Ebony Marinoff

Ebony Marinoff has become the first woman to reach 50 games in the AFLW. Here’s where the Crows midfielder fostered her love for the sport – along with many others.

Before Ebony Marinoff was winning AFLW premierships with the Crows, she was pulling on the boots for her local footy club, Morphettville Park.

The three-time All-Australian attributes her success at the elite level – where she today plays her 50th game – to her three seasons spent with the “Morphie Roos” in the lead up to the inaugural AFLW draft in 2016.

Marinoff said it was at the local level where she learnt dedication.

“I don’t think I would have had the success I did in the early years if it wasn’t for my time there,” she said.

“The way they prepared us for the AFLW system was second to none.”

Before there was the AFLW and SANFLW, it was the Adelaide Footy League club where pioneers of SA women’s football were able to ply their trade.

And the club pushed them to train hard and aim for the next level.

“The club always embraced having a women’s team,” Marinoff said.

“And that’s what you need, you need the club to back your program in, that’s how you’ll get the most out of your players.

“They really embraced the girls who had talent and made sure that they were pushed to their absolute limits and given every opportunity to showcase what they can do.”

Morphettville Park has been a fertile breeding ground for Adelaide Crows’ talent, producing 17 players who’ve pulled on the Crows tricolours over the past six seasons, including dual premiership players Anne Hatchard and Dayna Cox.

Adelaide’s AFLW boss, Phil Harper, said the Crows had a relatively “easy” time pulling together their inaugural women’s side for the 2017 AFLW season “because most of the best players were playing for one club”.

“They had the best coaches, the best program to be part of, so it attracted all the best players,” Harper said.

Hatchard joined the Roos in 2016 with aspirations to take her footy to the next level.

“I really wanted to make footy serious,” the 23-year-old said.

“Some coaches said you’ll have the opportunity to develop a lot more if you go to Morphies, so I made the change.”

Cox said the culture and community established at the Roos was what encouraged success.

“I remember the first few training sessions I had at Morphies I always felt comfortable,” Cox said.

“The importance of having a good club culture and being accepting of everyone’s individuality, that’s something the club (Morphettville Park) instilled in us and we carried through to the Crows.”

Having won the Adelaide Footy League’s women’s premiership in 2016, 10 Roos went on to become premiership-winning Crows in 2017.

Marinoff said the Crows’ premiership success was a result of the bond her and her teammates had forged in grassroots footy.

“Our love for each other and our bond was more than other clubs,” Marinoff said.

“Sometimes it’s not always about being the best, it’s about coming together and playing for each other.”