Orazio Fantasia

Orazio Maurice Fantasia (born 14 September 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Essendon Football Club with the 55th overall selection in the 2013 national draft.

Orazio Fantasia
Fantasia playing for Essendon in June 2017
Personal information
Full name Orazio Maurice Fantasia
Nickname(s) "Raz", "Razzle Dazzle"[1]
Date of birth (1995-09-14) 14 September 1995
Place of birth Adelaide, South Australia
Original team(s) Norwood (SANFL)
Draft No. 55, 2013 national draft
Height 177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 79 kg (174 lb)[2]
Position(s) Forward / Midfielder
Club information
Current club Essendon
Number 13
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2014– Essendon 75 (110)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2019.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

AFL career

Fantasia graduated from Norwood Morialta High School in 2013.[3] Fantasia played his junior football for the Payneham Norwood Union Football Club where his talent was identified by South Australian Hall of Famer Garry McIntosh who selected him in the Club's senior side as a 15 year old. He made his senior debut for Norwood in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in 2013. In only his fourth game he was a member of their 2013 SANFL premiership side.[3]

He made his debut against Richmond in round 20, 2014[4] and was dropped for the following round but regained his spot in round 22 against the Gold Coast, replacing Dyson Heppell who missed the game due to a broken hand. In the final round of the 2015 season, he was rewarded with a nomination for the AFL Rising Star where he recorded 27 disposals and five marks in the Bombers' three-point victory over Collingwood.[5]

Fantasia received a second nomination for the Rising Star after his three goals, eleven disposals, seven contested possessions, and seven tackles in round 17, 2016.[6]

Of recent times, he signed a three year deal, keeping him at Essendon until the end of the 2021 season. This dismissed any speculation that he would opt to move to his native South Australia. On the Tenth of October 2019, Orazio turned his back on Port Adelaide, by declaring he will remain with Essendon.

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season
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
2014Essendon4630291726810.00.73.05.78.72.70.3
2015Essendon4652041408116180.40.08.28.016.23.23.6
2016Essendon1319292514613628275721.51.37.77.214.84.03.8
2017Essendon1320392216111427574532.01.18.15.713.83.72.7
2018Essendon131320161099220154641.51.28.47.115.54.24.9
2019Essendon131520121017217346321.30.86.74.811.53.12.1
Career 75 110 77 567 471 1038 273 240 1.5 1.0 7.6 6.3 13.8 3.6 3.2

References
  1. McFarlane, Glenn (30 July 2017). "Essendon small forward Orazio Fantasia opens up on nicknames, confidence, goals and more". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  2. "Orazio Fantasia - essendonfc.com.au". essendonfc.com.au. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  3. Morgan, Kym (20 November 2013). "Orazio Fantasia's fantasy season about to get even better with AFL draft". The Advertiser.
  4. Potter, Shane (7 August 2014). "Fantasia named to debut". Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  5. Twomey, Callum (7 September 2015). "Bomber Fantasia wins Rising Star nod". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  6. Landsberger, Sam (18 July 2016). "Orazio Fantasia wins rare second Rising Star nomination as he looks forward to Essendon's bright future". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
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