Jason Saddington

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**Jason Saddington**
Personal information

Birth	October 23, 1979 (1979-10-23) (age 28),
Recruited from	Mitcham / Eastern Ranges U18
Height and weight	194cm / 88kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 1, March 29, 1998, Sydney Swans vs. Port Adelaide, at Football Park (Now AAMI Stadium)
Team(s)	Sydney Swans (1998-2005) 142 games, 41 goals Carlton (2006-) 18 games, 6 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2007 season
Career highlights
Sydney Swans AFL Rising Star nominee 1998.

Jason Saddington (born October 23, 1979) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

He was recruited as the number 11 draft pick in the 1997 AFL Draft from Mitcham.

[edit] Sydney career

Jason made his AFL debut for the Sydney Swans in Round 1, 1998 against Port Adelaide. He had a consistent debut season in 1998 and was nominated for the Norwich Rising Star award that year. He kicked 4 goals against the Kangaroos in Round 4 of 2004 in one of his best matches of his career, and was noted as a consistent rebounding backman with a strong mark. However, a serious knee injury in Round 10, 2004 against the Western Bulldogs interrupted his career and the very slow process of recovery resulted in Jason being traded to the Carlton Football Club at the end of the 2005 season. He played 142 games in eight seasons at the Swans.

[edit] Carlton career

Ironically, Jason debuted for Carlton against his old club, the Sydney Swans, in Round 3, 2006. He played six consecutive games, scoring two goals, before his season was again ended by the recurring knee injury. It was at this late stage that Jason was told for the first time that the medical staff at Sydney Swans were aware of complications that had resulted from his first knee injury and had withheld this information from him and also from his new club. Carlton then took a chance on Jason and had specialists operate on his knee again and it has now fully recovered. Jason played very good football for Carlton's reserves team, Northern Bullants in the VFL, in the early rounds of season 2007 and played his first senior game of the 2007 AFL Season at the MCG against Magpies in Round 7 on Saturday May 12th, 2007 taking a team high total of 12 marks. He played his 150th AFL game against the Kangaroos at Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast the following week. With the resignation of Denis Pagan as Carlton coach and the placement of Brett Ratten in that role, Jason's abilities as a part time forward have been put to good use. He kicked one goal in each of the first four games coached by Ratten including one booming kick of 65 metres from the centre square against Collingwood in Round 18. He is still to play for Carlton in 2008 and if this continues, it is likely he will be delisted.