Oleg Markov

Markov was born in Vitebsk in the eastern European nation of Belarus.[1] He moved with his family to Adelaide at the age of ten months.[2] Markov has a mixed athletic background including in high jump. He was particularly talented at the sport, placing fifth one year at the Australian All Schools championships.[1] He began playing football for the first time at age ten, picking up the sport in the playground of his Adelaide school.[2] Markov played his first junior football for Gepps Cross before moving to the North Adelaide Under 13s side.[3]

In 2014 Markov played Under 18's football with the North Adelaide Football Club.[4] His season was limited however by two significant collar-bone injuries.[5]

Markov ultimately went undrafted in 2014 and instead returned to North Adelaide for the 2015 season.[4] He appeared in matches in the club's reserves and senior side.[4] He played for the South Australian side at 2015's National Under-18 championships, appearing in five matches. In the second round of the tournament he kicked five goals and recorded 16 disposals in an impressive performance against Vic Metro.[4]

Markov was drafted by Richmond with the club's second selection and 50th selection overall in the 2015 draft.[4]

Markov made his AFL debut in round 16 of the 2016 season in a match against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.[2] He recorded 18 disposals and nine marks for the match.[6] The following week he kicked his first career goal, in a round 17 victory against Essendon.[7] Markov finished the season having played eight consecutive matches to close out the season and holding averages of 15.4 disposals and 6.3 marks per game.[8] He also ranked ninth at the club for metres gained per match.[9]

After spending the first four weeks of the 2017 season in the reserves, Markov was called up to playing his first AFL match of the season in round 5 against Melbourne.[10] In round 6 he kicked an equal team high (and a career high) two goals in the club's loss to Adelaide.[8] He remained in the club's senior side for the following two weeks, but was dropped after a six disposal game in the round 8 loss to Fremantle.[11][12] Markov returned to senior football for a single match in round 15, being omitted form the side the following week.[13] He had another two match streak in rounds 22 and 23, but was dropped from the club's qualifying final team to play the following week.[8][14] Markov's year did not end there however, as he played three matches in Richmond's VFL finals run. The streak included playing in the losing grand final against Port Melbourne.[15] At season's end he had played seven senior matches.[8]

Markov with Richmond's VFL team in May 2018

In the weeks following the end of the 2017 season, Markov underwent shoulder surgery.[16] Though he would return to conditioning work quickly, the ongoing injury rehabilitation would limit his skills and contact training into the start of the 2018 calendar year.[17] As a result Markov was not in selection consideration in the first month of the AFL season, instead playing reserves football in the VFL. There he sustained a quad injury in late April and missed two weeks of football as a result.[18][19] After returning from that injury Makov played a further four matches at VFL level including in a new role as a hybrid defensive player, taking a one-on-one role against opponents' third-tall forward in addition to his normal half-back rebounding role.[20] In early-May though Markov sustained a match-ending knee injury during the first minute of a VFL match against Williamstown.[21] Scans would later reveal the injury to be a strained medial collateral ligament that would see him miss an expected four to six-weeks.[22] Markov made a return to training behind schedule in early-July and played VFL football again in the penultimate weekend of the month.[23][24] He sustained yet another knee injury in that match however, this time suffering a torn meniscus that required surgery to repair.[25] Markov made a return to running and conditioning in mid-August and to competitive football in Richmond's losing VFL qualifying final against Williamstown in September.[26][27] He recorded 15 disposals in the match and repeated the effort with a further 15 in the club's knock-out semi-final loss to the Essendon reserves side the following week.[27][28] Markov finished the season having played 10 matches with the club's reserves side in the VFL but failed to play a match at AFL level.[29][8]

After rebuilding some of his muscle mass lost during injury rehabilitation in the year prior, Markov spent the 2018/19 off-season developing his defensive skills in order to complement his rebounding abilities.[30] In February he missed some training due to a minor knee complaint but recovered in time to feature in each of the club's two official pre-season matches in March.[31][32][33] Despite showing improvements on his output from his last AFL match two years prior, he was unable to gain selection in round 1's season opener against Carlton.[34] An injury to fellow half-back Bachar Houli saw Markov called up to AFL the next week however, contributing eight and 20 disposals respectively over a two match stint at AFL level.[35][8] He would be dropped back to VFL level after those two matches, where he managed to play just one match before suffering a torn meniscus in his right knee.[36][37] While an initial diagnosis suggested a recovery time of six to eight weeks, a highly successful surgical operation allowed to Markov to return to VFL football within four.[38][39][40][41] He missed one further VFL match in early June due to illness before being suspended for another later that month.[42][43] In early July, AFL released GPS data identified Markov as the fastest player in the league that season, having achieved a top sprint speed of 37.4 kilometres per hour in round 2's loss to Collingwood.[44] He was shifted to a new role at that same time, playing as a small forward and kicking two goals in his first VFL match in the role.[45] Markov continued to play as a forward through the final five matches of the VFL home and away season, earning regular praise from head coach Craig McRae while kicking a total of eight goals.[46][47][48] He was quiet in a come-from-behind qualifying final win over the Essendon reserves in the first week of the finals, before kicking two last-quarter goals in a preliminary final victory over Port Melbourne a fortnight later.[49][50][51] Markov kicked one goal for the Richmond VFL side that defeated Williamstown the following week, as the club won its first reserves grade premiership since 1997.[52][53] He finished 2019 having played two matches at AFL level, along with winning a VFL premiership after 16 matches and 13 goals with the club's reserves side.[8][54]

Markov is contracted with Richmond until at least the end of the 2020 season.[55]

Markov plays as a rebounding half back, utilising exceptional sprint speeds to set up offensive chains of possession.[56][57][58] In 2019 he spent significant periods trialing as a small forward in VFL matches with Richmond's reserves side.[59]

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season[8]

VFL

• VFL premiership player: 2019

Oleg is the son of world champion pole vaulter Dmitri Markov and mother Valentina .[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oleg Markov.

• Oleg Markov's profile on the official website of the Richmond Football Club
• Oleg Markov's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Oleg Markov's statistics from Footy Wire