Monique Conti

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Monique Conti
Mon Conti 23.02.20 (cropped).jpg
Conti post-match with Richmond in 2020
Personal information
Full name Monique Conti
Date of birth (1999-12-09) 9 December 1999 (age 22)
Place of birth Fitzroy, Victoria
Original team(s) Melbourne University (VFLW)
Draft No. 4, 2017 national draft
Debut Round 1, 2018, Western Bulldogs
vs. Fremantle, at VU Whitten Oval
Height 165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Richmond
Number 4
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2018–2019 Western Bulldogs 15 (4)
2020– Richmond 19 (1)
Total 34 (5)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 5, 2022.
Career highlights
Source: AustralianFootball.com

Monique Conti (born 9 December 1999) is an Australian rules footballer and former basketballer. Conti currently plays for the Richmond Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW), having previously played for the Western Bulldogs from 2018 to 2019. She also played in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) for the Melbourne Boomers from 2016 to 2020 and the Southside Flyers in 2020.

As an Australian rules footballer, Conti won an AFL Women's premiership with the Bulldogs in 2018, and was adjudged best afield in the grand final. She was also selected in the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team and won the Western Bulldogs best and fairest award in 2019 before moving to Richmond, where she won the inaugural two Richmond best and fairest awards in her first two seasons at the club and was selected in the 2021 AFL Women's All-Australian team. Conti received a nomination for the 2018 AFL Women's Rising Star award in round 4 of the 2018 season.

As a basketballer, Conti was a member of the Australian team that won the gold medal at the 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women and was named in that year's All-Tournament Team. She also won the WNBL Rookie of the Year Award in her first WNBL season with the Boomers in 2017, before moving to the Flyers ahead of 2020, winning a WNBL championship in her only season at the club.

Early life[]

Conti was born in Fitzroy, Victoria.[1] She studied at Maribyrnong College in her secondary school years, and looked up to other Australian dual-sport athletes such as Ellyse Perry and fellow footballer/basketballer and AFL Women's player Erin Phillips.[2][3]

Conti started playing football from the age of ten, playing with boys at the Essendon Doutta Stars Football Club until the age of 14 and then in the Melbourne University under-18 youth girls team until the age of 17, making the Vic Metro and All-Australian teams in all three years playing at that level.[3] In September 2016, Conti was one of 15 players from around Australia selected in level 2 of the inaugural AFL Women's academy.[1] Conti played for the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup Girls in 2017[3] alongside current AFL Women's players such as AFL Women's Rising Star winners Chloe Molloy and Madison Prespakis, and was coached by current player Alicia Eva.[1] Earlier in the year, at a testing day prior to the five-round season, she ranked first among TAC Cup Girls players in both the 20-metre sprint and agility test.[1] Conti also played for Melbourne University in the VFL Women's (VFLW) in 2017 before being drafted.[4]

Conti started playing basketball from the age of five,[2] playing with the Melbourne Tigers for the entirety of her junior basketball years and in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 2017 and 2018.[5] Prior to the creation of the AFL Women's, Conti had aspirations to play college basketball in the United States from a young age, and received offers from over thirty schools to play there at the age of 16, but instead committed to studying at Deakin University, which was aligned with the Melbourne Boomers, allowing her to continue her studies and to continue playing basketball at national level, along with football.[2][3] She began studying a business degree there in 2018 while also part of its Elite Athlete program.[6]

AFL Women's career[]

Conti playing for the Western Bulldogs in 2018

Western Bulldogs (2018–2019)[]

Conti was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with the club's second selection and fourth overall in the 2017 AFL Women's draft.[7] She made her debut in the twenty-six point win against Fremantle in round 1, 2018 at VU Whitten Oval.[8] In round 4, Conti received a nomination for the 2018 AFL Women's Rising Star award after recording 16 disposals in her side's win over Carlton,[9] and went on to finish second in the voting for the award with 39 votes, 11 behind winner Chloe Molloy.[10] She was also selected in afl.com.au's Team of the Week in rounds 3[11] and 5.[12] Conti was a member of the Western Bulldogs team that won the AFL Women's premiership in 2018, defeating Brisbane by six points at Ikon Park, and won the medal for best-on-ground in the grand final.[13] She was also named in the initial 2018 AFL Women's All-Australian 40-woman squad.[14] The Western Bulldogs signed Conti for the 2019 season during the trade and signing period in May 2018.

Conti improved on her debut season in 2019, achieving selection in womens.afl's Team of the Week in round 7 after recording a then-career-high 25 disposals in the Bulldogs' loss to Carlton at VU Whitten Oval[15] and finishing equal-fourth in the 2019 AFL Women's best and fairest count with seven votes. She was also named in the 2019 AFL Women's All-Australian team[16] and won the Western Bulldogs best and fairest award.[17]

Richmond (2020–present)[]

In April 2019, Conti was traded to Richmond for the first selection in the 2019 AFL Women's draft[18] and began playing for the club's VFL Women's team the following month.[19] Conti went on to win the club's VFLW best and fairest award[20][21] and finish second in voting for the Lambert–Pearce Medal, despite only playing seven games.[22][23] By December, it became known that Conti could miss up to the first five games of Richmond's inaugural season in the AFLW due to the 2020 WNBL Finals clashing with the opening rounds of the 2020 AFL Women's season;[20] however, in January 2020, Conti announced that she had requested to be released from her Melbourne Boomers contract to focus fully on playing in Richmond's inaugural AFLW season.[24][25]

Conti playing for Richmond in 2020

Leading into the 2020 season, womens.afl journalist Sarah Black named Conti at no. 13 on her list of the top 30 players in the AFLW.[26] She made her Richmond debut in the club's inaugural game against Carlton at Ikon Park, and was named among Richmond's best players.[27] Conti was named among Richmond's best players in all six matches, averaging a career-high 19.8 disposals per game,[28] and was selected in womens.afl's Team of the Week in round 4;[29] in the round 4 match, Conti recorded five tackles and a career-high 28 disposals in the loss to Geelong.[28] She went on to be selected in the initial 40-woman squad for the 2020 AFL Women's All-Australian team.[30][31][32] Conti was also selected in the AFL Players Association's inaugural AFL Women's 22under22 team,[33][34][35] having earlier been selected in the retrospective 2017–2019 team,[36] and won the inaugural Richmond best and fairest award.[37][38]

Leading into the 2021 season, Sarah Black again named Conti at no. 13 on her annual list of the top 30 players in the AFLW.[39] Conti was among the club's best players in round 1[40] and was named Richmond's best player in the following four matches.[41][42][43][44] She best afield in the round 4 loss to Carlton[43] and Richmond's inaugural AFLW win against Geelong in round 5,[44] and was selected in womens.afl's Team of the Week for those same rounds.[45][46] Conti pulled up sore from the round 5 match, and was a late withdrawal the following week with hamstring soreness;[47] she was among the best afield with 25 disposals and seven tackles upon her return in Richmond's round 7 win against Gold Coast.[48] At the conclusion of the season, Conti was selected in the 2021 AFL Women's All-Australian team.[49][50] Conti also achieved selection in Champion Data's 2021 AFLW All-Star stats team after leading the league for average ground-ball gets in the 2021 season, totalling 10.6 a game, a league record to that point.[51]

Conti focused solely on the upcoming AFL Women's season leading into 2022, completing a full pre-season for the first time after her WNBL commitments prevented her from doing so in previous years.[52] She was named at no. 10 in Sarah Black's 2022 list of the top 30 players in the AFLW, which was Conti's first appearance in the top ten.[53] Conti was best afield with a career-high 29 disposals and nine clearances in Richmond's round 1 win against St Kilda, with Geelong AFL midfielder and Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield tweeting during the match that she could win that season's AFL Women's best and fairest award playing at that level if Richmond won enough games;[54] she also won the maximum ten coaches' votes[55] and was named in womens.afl's Team of the Week.[56] Conti was named among Richmond's best players in round 2 with 25 disposals and her first goal for Richmond in its loss to Melbourne;[57] she polled eight coaches' votes, the equal-most for the match[58] and was also selected in womens.afl's Team of the Week for that round.[59] She was named Richmond's best player in its loss to Fremantle in round 3[60] and was the only Richmond player to poll coaches' votes, with six.[61] Despite being heavily tagged, Conti was named among Richmond's best players in its loss to Gold Coast in round 4 with a team-high 21 disposals and game-high ten tackles,[62] and was Richmond's best player in its loss to the Western Bulldogs in round 5,[63] polling five coaches' votes.[64]

Statistics[]

Statistics are correct to the end of round 5, 2022.[65]
Legend
 G  Goals  K  Kicks  D  Disposals  T  Tackles
 B  Behinds  H  Handballs  M  Marks
 #  Played in that year's
premiership team		  †  Led the league
for the season
AFLW playing statistics
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2018# Western Bulldogs 8 8 3 3 71 39 110 23 14 0.4 0.4 8.9 4.9 13.8 2.9 1.8 0
2019 Western Bulldogs 8 7 1 3 73 53 126 20 31 0.1 0.4 10.4 7.6 18.0 2.9 4.4 7
2020 Richmond 4 6 0 2 61 58 119 16 29 0.0 0.3 10.2 9.7 19.8 2.7 4.8 7
2021 Richmond 4 8 0 2 86 92 178 14 25 0.0 0.3 10.8 11.5† 22.3 1.8 3.1 12
2022 Richmond 4 5 1 2 59 61 120 10 33 0.2 0.4 11.8 12.2 24.0 2.0 6.6
Career 34 5 12 350 303 653 83 132 0.1 0.4 10.3 8.9 19.2 2.4 3.9 26

Honours and achievements[]

Team

Individual

Basketball career[]

Monique Conti
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
PositionGuard
Career history
2016–2020Melbourne Boomers
2020Southside Flyers
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Representing  Australia
Basketball
FIBA Under-17 World Championship for Women
Gold medal – first place 2016 Spain Team

WNBL[]

Melbourne Boomers[]

Conti began her professional career with the Melbourne Boomers in the 2016–17 season, where she remained through 2019–20 season.[66] Prior to the 2019–20 finals, Conti sought a release from her contract over conflicts between her basketball and football commitments.[67] The release allowed her to play from the opening round of the AFLW season, but saw her give up the final year of her Boomers contract.[68]

Southside Flyers[]

Conti joined the Southside Flyers for the 2020 season,[69] with the condensed fixture in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic allowing Conti to complete the full commitments of both the WNBL and AFL Women's seasons.[70] Conti was a member of the Flyers team that won the WNBL championship that season, the Flyers' first since changing their name from the Dandenong Rangers,[71][72][73] but did not return for the 2021–22 season after choosing to focus solely on her AFL Women's career.[74]

National team[]

Conti made her junior international debut at the 2016 U17 World Championship in Spain with the U17 Sapphires. Conti lead the Sapphires to their inaugural title in Spain. After snapping team USA's 28-game win streak at U17 level, Australia went on to take home Gold. Alongside two of her teammates, Conti was named to the All-Tournament Team.[75]

References[]

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