Dustin Fletcher

Dustin Fletcher (born 7 May 1975) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire 23 season career for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is widely acknowledged as one of the finest defenders in VFL/AFL history.[1]

Not to be confused with Dusty Fletcher.

Dustin Fletcher
Fletcher in August 2007
Personal information
Full name Dustin Andrew Fletcher
Date of birth (1975-05-07) 7 May 1975
Original team(s) Western Jets (TAC Cup)
Draft (F/S), 1992 national draft
Height 199 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Weight 92 kg (203 lb)
Position(s) Defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1993–2015 Essendon 400 (71)
International team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2005–2015 Australia 8 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2015.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2015.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

AFL career

Fletcher was recruited by the Essendon Football Club in the 1992 National Draft. He played his first senior game against Carlton in his senior year of high school at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School.

He was a key member of the 1993 premiership team in his first AFL season, a team which is often referred to as the "Baby Bombers".

Fletcher also played in the 2000 premiership team, a year in which he also won the Crichton Medal as Essendon's best and fairest and was selected in the All-Australian team.

A banner congratulating Fletcher in 2010.

Noted for his longevity in the game, Fletcher played a total of 400 senior VFL/AFL games, which stands as the fourth-most by any player as of the end of the 2016 season. Fletcher played his 400th game in Round 9, 2015, becoming the third player in VFL/AFL history to reach the milestone, after Michael Tuck and Kevin Bartlett; it would end up being his final game, as he was unable to recover from a groin injury sustained during the match.[2] He holds the outright Essendon games record, having overtaken the previous record of 378 games held by Simon Madden in Round 1, 2014.[3] He is the second oldest player to play a VFL/AFL game, aged 40 years and 23 days at the time of his final game, behind only Vic Cumberland (who played the 1920 season aged 43).[4] With his father, Ken, the Fletchers hold the record for the most VFL/AFL career games played by a father and son, with 664 games between them.

On 12 January 2016, during the summer after his retirement, Fletcher was named as one of 34 past and present Essendon players found guilty over their use of illegal supplements during the 2012 AFL season. As a result, Fletcher was suspended from playing at all levels for 24 months, which with backdating and provisional suspension served resulted in suspension until November 2016.[5]

After serving his suspension, Fletcher will return in 2017 to play suburban football for Essendon Doutta Stars.[6]

Kicking style

Fletcher's execution of the torpedo punt was often used as a set-play clearing strategy by coach Kevin Sheedy. In a game in 2007, he kicked a torpedo punt goal from more than 70 metres.[7] According to The Sunday Age, it was the fifth-longest kick in the history of the VFL/AFL.

International rules series

Fletcher served as the Australia international rules football team's goalkeeper for five series: the 2005 series, the 2006 series, the 2010 series, the 2014 series, and the 2015 series. Along with Barry Hall, Fletcher was one of Australia's co-captains for the 2006 series. He is regarded as Australia's greatest keeper throughout the series. He retired from top-level football with a final International rules match, at the 2015 series in Ireland.[8]

Statistics
[9]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1993† Essendon 3117001284517343240.00.07.52.610.22.51.4
1994 Essendon 311320764111727100.20.05.83.29.02.10.8
1995 Essendon 31224319910130094230.20.19.04.613.64.31.0
1996 Essendon 3123161023552287105160.70.410.22.312.54.60.7
1997 Essendon 3116921756223776140.60.110.93.914.84.80.9
1998 Essendon 3118421863922557160.20.110.32.212.53.20.9
1999 Essendon 3119381985124974180.20.410.42.713.13.91.0
2000† Essendon 31231462768135793260.60.312.03.515.54.01.1
2001 Essendon 3121442396230178180.20.211.43.014.33.70.9
2002 Essendon 3118322024424651300.20.111.22.413.72.81.7
2003 Essendon 3114001453417944140.00.010.42.412.83.11.0
2004 Essendon 3120132204226270280.00.211.02.113.13.51.4
2005 Essendon 3117002263726370130.00.013.32.215.54.10.8
2006 Essendon 3116002116727898120.00.013.24.217.46.10.8
2007 Essendon 31193230985394144300.20.116.34.520.77.61.6
2008 Essendon 3118231988428296180.10.211.04.715.75.31.0
2009 Essendon 31181121810232086300.10.112.15.717.84.81.7
2010 Essendon 3116112167529179280.10.113.54.718.24.91.8
2011 Essendon 3119102137628977320.00.011.24.015.24.01.7
2012 Essendon 3118122444528988200.10.113.62.516.14.91.1
2013 Essendon 3113001514719863140.00.011.63.615.24.81.1
2014 Essendon 31151019881279103110.10.013.25.418.66.90.7
2015 Essendon 3171180361163560.10.111.45.116.65.00.9
Career 400 71 50 4543 1389 5932 1751 451 0.2 0.1 11.4 3.5 14.8 4.4 1.1

Honours and achievements

See also

References
  1. Anderson, Jon (27 May 2010). "Pick 1: Fletcher or Scarlett?". Herald Sun.
  2. "Dustin Fletcher: Facts and figures of 400 games". Herald Sun. 29 May 2015.
  3. Baum, Greg (21 March 2014). "Essendon ignores drama to notch memorable win". The Age. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  4. Anderson, Jon (6 May 2015). "Essendon's Dustin Fletcher is the second-oldest player to play the game as Michael Tuck lauds his longevity". The Age. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  5. Travis King (12 January 2016). "Guilty: court bans the Essendon 34 for 2016". Australian Football League. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  6. Chris Cavanagh (6 November 2016). "Essendon champion Dustin Fletcher commits to play local footy with Essendon Doutta Stars". Moonee Valley Leader. Essendon, VIC. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  7. Clough, Michael (24 April 2007). "AFL Round 4 Review". Ohmy News. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  8. Dustin Fletcher set for Irish farewell tour after fitness test
  9. http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/D/Dustin_Fletcher.html
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.