| Ben Hudson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Ben Hudson | ||
| Date of birth | 24 February 1979 | ||
| Original team | Werribee (VFL) | ||
| Draft | #58, 2003 National Draft, Adelaide | ||
| Height/Weight | 199cm / 108kg | ||
| Position(s) | Ruckman | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Brisbane Lions | ||
| Number | - | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2004–2007 2008–2011 2012– Total |
Adelaide Western Bulldogs Brisbane Lions |
55 (6) 88 (9) 0 (0) 143 (15) |
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1 Playing statistics to end of 2011 season .
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Ben Hudson (born 24 February 1979) is an Australian rules footballer who played 143 games for the Adelaide Crows and Western Bulldogs and currently plays for the Brisbane Lions.
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Hudson was born in Victoria, but moved to Queensland at a young age where he grew up at Palm Beach, a suburb of the Gold Coast.[1]
He played basketball until 2000, when he began driving to Brisbane to study at the University of Queensland where he played for the University of Queensland Australian Football Club at 21 years of age as a ruckman. His coach later recommended that he play for Mount Gravatt Football Club where he played under coach Danny Craven.
At Mount Gravatt, he won a Best and Fairest in 2001, before taking part in the club's 2002 premiership side. That year he represented Queensland against Western Australia.
He later returned to Victoria, where he tried out with the Werribee Football Club, where at the relatively late age of 24, Adelaide Football Club talent scouts recognized his skills and lured him to the AFL at pick number 58 in the 2003 AFL Draft.
As a mobile ruckman, Hudson enjoyed a successful debut before seriously injuring the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a fall on the eve of the 2005 finals series. He required a full knee reconstruction, which resulted in the return of veteran ruckman Matthew Clarke back from the brink of retirement.
Hudson recovered well from the injury to play in the SANFL late in 2006. He returned to the Crows in 2007 and performed well throughout the year, playing 22 games, garnering 366 hit-outs and finishing second overall in the AFL for hardball gets.[2]
During the year he was suspended for one week by the club for breaking the team curfew.[3] He was also allegedly upset by criticism from Adelaide coach Neil Craig.[4]
On 19 September 2007 Hudson asked to be traded to the Western Bulldogs, after contract negotiations with Adelaide broke down.[5]
Hudson officially joined the Western Bulldogs on a three-year contract on 12 October 2007, after the Adelaide Football Club's hand was forced into a trade. Hudson has fitted in well at his new club and his superb performance against ladder leaders Hawthorn led coach Alastair Clarkson to name him the trade of the year.
Hudson was elected into the Western Bulldogs Leadership Group by the players for the 2009 Season, joining Captain Brad Johnson, Daniel Giansiracusa, Robert Murphy, Daniel Cross, Matthew Boyd, Dale Morris and Shaun Higgins.
In the Round 11 match against St. Kilda, Hudson was charged with a Level Two striking offence against Leigh Montagna during the second quarter, because the action was considered to be of intentional conduct (three points), low impact (one point) and body contact (one point). A Level Two offence draws 125 demerit points and a one-match sanction. However, because Hudson had no existing good or bad record, an early plea could reduce the penalty by 25 percent to a reprimand and 93.75 points to wards his future record, which he accepted.[6]
On the 24th of August 2011 Ben Hudson announced that he was to retire from football at the end of the season and move to Queensland, however an offer from the Brisbane Lions talked him out of retirement, and the Bulldogs traded him to the Lions for Pick #70 in the AFL National Draft.
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