From rowing to football, talented dual sport athlete Ella Smith is the newest Lion to join the den, drafted at Pick 41 in the 2022 NAB AFLW Draft on Wednesday night.

A National Champion and Australian National U19 team rower, Ella Smith will add Brisbane Lion to her burgeoning sporting resume when she joins the Club ahead of Season 7.

While juggling her football career with her passion for rowing, Smith has spent the past season honing her craft as an inside midfielder and a winger.

The Lions Academy product is one of only three Queensland NAB AFLW Academy members, and represented both Queensland and the Academy in the NAB AFLW U18 Championships earlier this year.

The Aspley Hornet’s star is clean by hand and foot, making her a threat to any opposition with ball in hand.

The speedy inside midfielder caught the attention of the competition during this year’s NAB AFLW Combine, with her blistering 2km time trial result of 7:37 putting her within the Top 10 of Combine participants nationally.

“Ella is a medium sized midfielder, equally adept on the inside or outside of the contest,” Head Coach Craig Starcevich said.

“In close she’s clean and strong enough to break away from congestion, and on the outside she uses her long running ability with great effect to find space and use her long left foot to gain valuable meters for her team.

“Her other sporting passion, elite rowing, has her well placed to take on the preparation demands of AFLW.”