Aaron Sandilands

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**Aaron Sandilands**
Personal information
Aaron Sandilands towers over Carlton's Lance Whitnall at the Telstra Dome in 2006
Birth	December 6, 1982 (1982-12-06) (age 25),
Recruited from	East Fremantle
Height and weight	211cm / 124kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 1,March 30, 2003, Fremantle. vs. Adelaide., at Football Park
Team(s)	Fremantle (2003-) 91 games, 26 goals
¹ Statistics to end of Rd 14, 2007 season
Career highlights
AFL Rising Star nominee Round 14, 2003. Named in the WA State of Origin Team, 2006

Aaron Sandilands (born 6 December 1982) is an Australian rules footballer. At 211 cm (6ft 11in) tall and weighing 124 kg (273 lbs), he is the equal tallest and the heaviest player in the history of the Australian Football League (and the preceding Victorian Football League).[1] Sandilands plays as a ruckman for the Fremantle Football Club.

Originally from the small town of Mt Barker in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, Sandilands was selected by Fremantle in the rookie draft prior to the 2002 season. He spent the entire 2002 year playing for East Fremantle in the WAFL, before being elevated to the senior list prior to the 2003 season.

Playing in 19 games in his first season, the highlights were being nominated for the AFL Rising Star and earning a Brownlow Medal vote for a dominant display against the reigning premiers, Brisbane Lions in Round 14 and playing in Fremantle's first ever finals match. Despite Essendon being convincing winners, Sandilands was one of the few to perform well, with a personal record 41 hitouts.

As ruckmen are generally considered to peak in their late 20s, Sandilands has impressed many to rank 6th or 5th in total hitouts in each of his first three seasons in the AFL, improving to 2nd (with the highest average) in 2006 [2]. Despite this dominance in hitouts, it doesn't always result in Fremantle winning the clearances[3].

In 2006 Sandilands suffered a broken jaw in the round 6 Western Derby in a clash with West Coast Eagles ruckman Mark Seaby.[4] Following an investigation by the AFL, no charges were laid over the incident.[5]