Jump to content

Chris Grant (footballer)

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Grant
Personal information
Full name Christopher Lee Grant
Date of birth (1972-12-13) 13 December 1972 (age 51)
Place of birth Daylesford, Victoria
Original team(s) Daylesford
Draft No. 105, 1988 national draft
Height 193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 99 kg (218 lb)
Position(s) Full Forward/Centre Half Back
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1990–2007 Footscray/Western Bulldogs 341 (554)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2007.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Christopher Lee Grant (born 13 December 1972) is a former Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League, a legend of the Western Bulldogs and a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame.[1] He was born in Daylesford, Victoria, Australia.

AFL career

[edit]

Grant was recruited by the Footscray Football Club (now Western Bulldogs) in the 1988 VFL Draft at pick number 105, and played his first AFL game in 1990 at the age of 17. Grant kicked 51 goals that season, the youngest player in VFL-AFL history to achieve this feat, to be the leading goalkicker for the club.

Over the following years, Grant established himself as a respected player in the half-forward position. He earned All-Australian honours in 1994 and 1996. He appeared in the 1997 documentary Year of the Dogs alongside the rest of the Footscray team. He polled 27 votes in the 1997 Brownlow Medal, one more than winner Robert Harvey; however, he was ineligible for the award due to a one-match suspension for striking Hawthorn's Nick Holland.[2] The incident (high contact while attempting to spoil a mark) was not deemed reportable by the umpires but Director of Football Operations Ian Collins decided Grant should be sent to the tribunal.[3]

In 2001 he was named team captain, and was selected as a member of the Footscray & Western Bulldogs 'Team of the Century' in 2002. He missed the 2003 season to an ACL injury sustained in Round 1; his absence in the team was severely felt as the Bulldogs ended up finishing last on the AFL ladder.[4][5] He relinquished the captaincy at the end of the 2004 season.

Grant played over 300 games and scored more than 500 goals throughout his career, an astonishing feat considering he spent much of his career at centre half back, playing on the game's best key forwards. He won the club best-and-fairest award in 1994 and 1996 (and came second in 1997, 1998, and 1999, and third in 2001). He gained third place in the 1996 Brownlow Medal. He received All-Australian Honours in 1997, 1998, and 1999. He was the club's leading goal-kicker in 1990 and 1994.

In playing his 330th game on 5 August 2006, Grant broke Doug Hawkins' record for most games played for the Western Bulldogs. He held the club games record until 2009, when he was passed by Brad Johnson.

Near the end of 1996 Grant was offered a large amount of money to move to Port Adelaide, but his decision to stay with the Western Bulldogs was helped along by a little boy, Ryan Adams, who sent Grant a letter with a 20-cent piece attached saying it was all he had and that Grant could keep it if he stayed with the Bulldogs.[6]

Grant announced his retirement from senior football at the Bulldogs' best-and-fairest presentation on 2 October 2007, following a career that spanned 18 seasons and 341 games.[7]

Chris Grant came out of retirement to represent his old club in Daylesford and in his first game of the season kicked 11 goals.

Grant continues to support the Western Bulldogs. He held the director role of the club's football department until he resigned in 2024 as a result of a tumultuous relationship with head coach, Luke Beveridge.

Personal life

[edit]

Grant's daughter, Isabella Grant, began playing for the Western Bulldogs' AFL Women's team in the 2020 AFL Women's season after being drafted to the club as a father–daughter selection.[8]

Statistics

[edit]
[9]
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1990 Footscray 29 20 51 31 161 39 200 102 15 2.6 1.6 8.1 2.0 10.0 5.1 0.8
1991 Footscray 29 15 18 15 113 77 190 75 7 1.2 1.0 7.5 5.1 12.7 5.0 0.5
1992 Footscray 29 24 50 28 249 140 389 133 36 2.1 1.2 10.4 5.8 16.2 5.5 1.5
1993 Footscray 29 17 33 22 200 62 262 109 14 1.9 1.3 11.8 3.6 15.4 6.4 0.8
1994 Footscray 3 24 71 57 264 77 341 155 18 3.0 2.4 11.0 3.2 14.2 6.5 0.8
1995 Footscray 3 22 38 26 214 101 315 133 24 1.7 1.2 9.7 4.6 14.3 6.0 1.1
1996 Footscray 3 22 16 12 267 101 368 135 27 0.7 0.5 12.1 4.6 16.7 6.1 1.2
1997 Western Bulldogs 3 23 37 22 281 148 429 170 29 1.6 1.0 12.2 6.4 18.7 7.4 1.3
1998 Western Bulldogs 3 22 42 34 294 117 411 185 39 1.9 1.5 13.4 5.3 18.7 8.4 1.8
1999 Western Bulldogs 3 24 37 29 284 137 421 176 33 1.5 1.2 11.8 5.7 17.5 7.3 1.4
2000 Western Bulldogs 3 17 40 20 193 70 263 105 24 2.4 1.2 11.4 4.1 15.5 6.2 1.4
2001 Western Bulldogs 3 22 46 30 228 95 323 110 58 2.1 1.4 10.4 4.3 14.7 5.0 2.6
2002 Western Bulldogs 3 21 17 17 196 109 305 111 32 0.8 0.8 9.3 5.2 14.5 5.3 1.5
2003 Western Bulldogs 3 1 0 0 9 5 14 5 0 0.0 0.0 9.0 5.0 14.0 5.0 0.0
2004 Western Bulldogs 3 22 0 8 180 109 289 106 32 0.0 0.4 8.2 5.0 13.1 4.8 1.5
2005 Western Bulldogs 3 16 26 5 115 39 154 58 33 1.6 0.3 7.2 2.4 9.6 3.6 2.1
2006 Western Bulldogs 3 24 28 16 192 97 289 113 38 1.2 0.7 8.0 4.0 12.0 4.7 1.6
2007 Western Bulldogs 3 5 4 2 36 15 51 22 7 0.8 0.4 7.2 3.0 10.2 4.4 1.4
Career 341 554 374 3476 1538 5014 2003 466 1.6 1.1 10.2 4.5 14.7 5.9 1.4
[edit]

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Grant (footballer).
  1. ^ Daffey, Paul (13 June 2012). "Dogs' humble champ". Archived from the original on 19 October 2012.
  2. ^ Edmund, Sam (18 June 2008). "Champions call for update to Brownlow reprimand ruling". Herald Sun. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  3. ^ The Age 14 May 1997
  4. ^ Whiting, Michael (11 April 2016). "Dogs can learn from history on Murphy injury". Australian Football League. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  5. ^ Pierik, Jon (11 April 2016). "AFL 2016: 'I felt the pop,' says Bob Murphy". Redland City Bulletin. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  6. ^ Len Johnson, The Age (21 April 2005). "Grant's grand regret".
  7. ^ AAP (2 October 2007). "Chris Grant announces retirement". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Isabella Grant to join AFLW Bulldogs". Western Bulldogs. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  9. ^ Chris Grant's player profile at AFL Tables
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Grant_(footballer)&oldid=1262629212"