Nakia Cockatoo

Nakia Cockatoo
Personal information
Full name	Nakia Cockatoo
Date of birth	(1996-10-23) 23 October 1996 (age 28)
Original team(s)	NT Thunder (NEAFL)
Draft	No. 10, 2014 national draft
Height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	90 kg (198 lb)
Position(s)	Midfielder / Forward
Club information
Current club	Retired
Number	12
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2015–2020	Geelong	34 (25)
2021–2023	Brisbane Lions	15 (7)
Total		49 (32)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2023.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Nakia Cockatoo (/nəˈkaɪə/ nə-KY-ə;^[1] born 23 October 1996) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early life

Cockatoo was born in the Northern Territory into a family of Indigenous Australian descent (Jupangati and Marrithiyal)^[2] and was raised the small town of Humpty Doo. He began playing football at Auskick level with the Humpty Doo Bombers.^[3] He played his junior football with Southern Districts in the NTFL and the Northern Territory Thunder in the NEAFL.^[4]

He has strong family connections to Queensland with his surname deriving from his great-great-great grandfather who was known as 'Old Man Cockatoo' in the Cape York Peninsula^[5] as well as three of his Queensland-based uncles Che, David and Donald playing professional football in the AFL.^[6] Several female cousins of his are also involved in the Gold Coast Suns' developmental football academy.^[7]

AFL career

Cockatoo was drafted with pick 10 in the 2014 AFL Draft,^[8] by Geelong Football Club. He made his debut in the first round of the 2015 AFL season against Hawthorn.^[9]

At the conclusion of the 2020 AFL season, Cockatoo was traded to the Brisbane Lions,^[10] where he would play 15 games before retiring at the conclusion of the 2023 season.

Statistics

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
2015	Geelong	5	11	3	5	47	37	84	29	19	0.3	0.5	4.3	3.4	7.6	2.6	1.7
2016	Geelong	5	10	11	5	74	42	116	28	39	1.1	0.5	7.4	4.2	11.6	2.8	3.9
2017	Geelong	5	11	11	11	73	30	103	24	42	1.0	1.0	6.6	2.7	9.4	2.2	3.8
2018	Geelong	5	2	0	2	14	11	25	6	4	0.0	1.0	7.0	5.5	12.5	3.0	2.0
2019	Geelong	5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2020	Geelong	5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
2021	Brisbane Lions	12	7	5	1	18	24	42	5	22	0.7	0.1	2.6	3.4	6.0	0.7	3.1
2022	Brisbane Lions	12	8	2	2	49	27	76	22	22	0.3	0.3	6.1	3.4	9.5	2.8	2.8
2023	Brisbane Lions	12	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Career[11]			49	32	26	275	171	446	114	148	0.7	0.5	5.6	3.5	9.1	2.3	3.0

References

1. "How to say the AFL's trickiest names". Australian Football League. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
2. "AFL Players' Indigenous Map 2020" (PDF). AFL Players Association. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
3. AFL Record. Round 22, 2022. pg 40
4. Schubert, Steven (28 November 2014). "Nakia Cockatoo from NT Thunder snapped up by Geelong Cats in AFL draft". ABC Online. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
5. Harms, John. "Force for good: how Indigenous Australians have enriched football". Audio on Demand. National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
6. "Geelong Cats pick up four young guns". Geelong Advertiser. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
7. "Yokayi Footy: Name of the game for footy blood rich Cockatoo-Motlap twins". AFL Women's. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
8. Auciello, Michael (27 November 2014). "AFL Draft: Geelong Cats pick up four young guns". Geelong Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
9. McNicol, Adam (4 April 2015). "Final Cats side v Hawks". geelongcats.com.au. Telstra Media. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
10. "Lions land former No.10 pick from Cats". AFL Media. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
11. "Nakia Cockatoo". AFL Tables. Retrieved 8 October 2023.

External links

• Nakia Cockatoo's playing statistics from AFL Tables