Shane Crawford
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | 9 September 1974, Mooroolbark, Victoria |
| Recruited from | Assumption College |
| Height/Weight | 174cm / 79kg |
| Playing Career¹ | |
| Debut | Round 1, March 27, 1993, Hawthorn vs. Melbourne, at Waverley Park |
| Team(s) | Hawthorn (1993-)
267 games, 206 goals |
| ¹ Statistics to end of R21, 2006 season | |
| Career Highlights | |
AFL
Hawthorn
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Shane Crawford (born September 9, 1974 in Mount Barker, South Australia) is an Australian rules football player for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.
Shane spent much of his childhood in Finley, New South Wales and Myrtleford, Victoria.
[edit] Australian rules football career
Crawford was recruited from Assumption College in Victoria, and selected by the Hawks with the 13th pick in the 1991 AFL National Draft. He made his debut in 1993 and soon became one of the stars of the league, known for his prolific ball-winning ability.
Proven by a special tracking system, it is said that he runs about 20 km when playing a full match. His amazing fitness levels make him almost impossible to tag for long periods by a single player. "Crawf" is still one of the AFL's elite midfielders and his hard running and polished skills make him a highly dangerous opponent. It is said that Crawford could have made it as a national 800m runner if he chose athletics over football in his earlier years. He is a self confessed fitness freak and after the 1998 AFL season he rode his bike from Melbourne to Adelaide in the space of 6 days.
These days a player who is only 174 cm would usually be overlooked but Crawford proves that theory wrong and performs week in week out with his gut busting running and work ethic.
Crawford has played over 200 career AFL games, and is a four-time All-Australia player, and has played in three International Rules series for Australia. He became captain of Hawthorn in 1999, and that season he also won the AFL's top individual honours, the Brownlow Medal and the Players' Association MVP award. He has won four best and fairests ( 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003) and came second in the brownlow in 2003 losing to the leaders by 1 vote.
Shane Crawford stepped down from the Hawthorn Football Club captaincy after the disastrous 2004 season, where he broke his arm and the Hawks finished second last on the AFL premiership season ladder. He regained his elite form in the 2005 season, and is again one of the league's leading possession winners. In 2006 Crawford showed he still has plenty to offer and could be a handy utility player for the Hawks for at least 2-3 years yet. He has the ability to get the ball quickly out of defence when needed and can also kick much needed goals on the run.
[edit] Off The Field
Shane is also known for his love for media attention with his recurring guest role on The Footy Show on the Nine Network, including his role in the spin-off satirical comedy House of Bulger as Hank Bulger. More recently, he has also been known for his antics against Sam Newman on the show. These have included punching Newman, pulling Newman's pants down on air and spraying him with a fire extinguisher, as well as defacing a portrait of Newman entered in the Archibald Prize(which was revealed quickly to be a copy.)
In 2003, he wrote an autobiography titled Shane Crawford Exposed.
He is the subject of the song "I Rooted a Girl who Rooted a Guy who Rooted a Girl who Rooted a Guy who Rooted a Girl who Rooted Shane Crawford" by the Australian band TISM, found on The White Albun (2004).
He also featured in the controversial documentary Shane Crawford - Access All Areas (diary of an AFL star) in 2004 (directed by Rob Dickson).
In 2006, his long acting ambitions looked close to being realised when he was offered a contract to play the lead part in the movie production of "Love of the Game". [1]
Crawford has a long time girlfriend, Olivia Anderson, and on July 6, 2006 she gave birth to their first child - a boy named Charlie John.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Nathan Buckley |
Alex Jesaulenko Medal winner 1998 |
Succeeded by No award given |
| Preceded by Paul Salmon |
Hawthorn Best and Fairest winner 1998-1999 |
Succeeded by Nick Holland, Daniel Chick |
| Preceded by Robert Harvey |
Brownlow Medallist 1999 |
Succeeded by Shane Woewodin |
| Preceded by Wayne Carey |
Leigh Matthews Trophy 1999 |
Succeeded by Anthony Koutoufides |
| Preceded by Joel Smith |
Hawthorn Best and Fairest winner 2002-2003 |
Succeeded by Peter Everitt |
