Sharrod Wellingham

Sharrod Wellingham (born 7 July 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Sharrod Wellingham
Personal information
Full name Sharrod Sebastian Bradford Wellingham
Date of birth (1988-07-07) 7 July 1988
Place of birth Western Australia
Original team(s) South Perth / Perth (WAFL)
Draft No. 10, 2007 rookie draft
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 85 kg (187 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder/defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2008–2012 Collingwood 092 (55)
2013–2017 West Coast 079 (18)
Total 171 (73)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2017.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

A pacy wingman from Western Australia, Wellingham became the fifth Indigenous footballer on the Magpies list having been selected with the 10th pick in the 2006 AFL Rookie Draft.

Wellingham's initial season at the club was spent with Collingwood's VFL affiliate side, Williamstown. Due to VFL limits on the number of AFL-listed players eligible for selection against non AFL-affiliated clubs, Wellingham was demoted to the Williamstown reserves towards the end of 2007. Despite this Wellingham was promoted to the Collingwood senior list to replace Chris Egan. Despite being named an emergency in round 19 against Richmond, he did not make his Collingwood debut in 2007 and was subsequently demoted back to 'rookie' status. He survived the cut post-season, and remained on the Collingwood 2008 rookie list. He then switched guernsey numbers, switching from the lowly 41 to Guy Richards' old number 21.

In January 2008, Collingwood lost their sponsorship from the Transport Accident Commission after Wellingham was charged with drink-driving. Wellingham was moving a car 100 metres up the road (so he says, the other AFL players with him had been drinking) after being out on Saturday 5 January, when he was pulled over by the police. The club fined him $5000.[1]

Before the 2008 Anzac Day Clash between Essendon and Collingwood he was promoted to the senior list again and was initially named as an emergency,[2] but made his debut[3] when Anthony Rocca was unable to play due to injury.[4]

After 2008, Wellingham went on to entrench himself as a vital member of Collingwood's midfield. His pace, footskills, overhead marking and ferocity at the contest became valuable assets to the Magpies' side.[5]

He played in the 2010 grand final-winning team.

He put himself in the spotlight with a career-best 37 possessions in the 2011 Queen's Birthday game against Melbourne, where he stood up in the absence of a number of star teammates to lead Collingwood to a dominant 88 point win.[6]

On 6 July 2012, in a Friday night game against arch-rival Carlton, Wellingham laid a head-high bump on Carlton's Kade Simpson when Simpson was running back with the flight of the ball, attempting to take a mark. The Match Review Panel deemed the hit worthy of a five-match suspension, but due to Wellingham's five-year good record, the suspension was reduced to four weeks, and reduced a further 25% to three weeks due to an early guilty plea.[7]

At the end of the 2012 season during the AFL Trade Period, Wellingham was traded to the West Coast Eagles, Collingwood in return receiving the Eagles' first round pick, #17. His first season at the Eagles was marred by an ankle injury sustained while using a trampoline during the pre-season, while his second season, 2014, was limited by injury and poor form.

In 2015, Sharrod proved that the Eagles had made the right decision to trade for him, playing a vital role in their astonishing climb up the ladder and Grand Final appearance under new coach Adam Simpson. He averaged 18 disposals and 4 marks in 24 games as a reliable midfielder/defender.

Wellingham was delisted by West Coast at the end of the 2017 season.[8]

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2017 season[9]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2008 Collingwood 211244808416441350.30.36.77.013.73.42.9
2009 Collingwood 21166413014727753400.40.38.19.217.33.32.5
2010 Collingwood 2124151826520346893950.60.811.08.519.53.94.0
2011 Collingwood 2120171022015037063790.90.511.07.518.53.24.0
2012 Collingwood 2120131323315138488870.70.711.77.619.24.44.4
2013 West Coast 1210831118019132270.80.311.18.019.13.22.7
2014 West Coast 12135312410322741380.40.29.57.917.53.22.9
2015 West Coast 122440261187448115420.10.010.87.718.64.71.7
2016 West Coast 12191219212531769410.10.110.16.516.63.62.1
2017 West Coast 12130313491225602500.210.37.017.34.61.9
Career 171 73 60 1750 1321 3071 654 509 0.4 0.3 10.2 7.7 17.9 3.8 2.9

References
  1. Collier, Karen and Warner, Michael (8 January 2008). "Drink-drive rookie Sharrod Wellingham costs Collingwood $500,000". PerthNow.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  2. "AFL 2008 Round 6 Teams".
  3. "Pies deliver Anzac Day lesson". Herald Sun. 25 April 2008.
  4. Pierik, Jon and Williams, Rebecca (25 April 2008). "Pies, Bombers suffer blow on eve of Anzac Day clash". The Courier-Mail.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  5. Anderson, Jon (23 September 2011). "Sharrod Wellingham seriously good, just quietly". Herald Sun.
  6. Lienert, Sam (13 June 2011). "Collingwood thrash Demons by 88 points".
  7. "Sharrod Wellingham bump on Carlton star Kade Simpson labelled as sport's 'worst dog act of the year'". Fox Sports. 11 July 2012.
  8. King, Travis (25 October 2017). "Five Eagles axed as cleanout continues". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  9. Sharrod Wellingham's player profile at AFL Tables

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.