Shane Crawford

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Shane Crawford
Personal information
Full name	Shane Crawford
Date of Birth	9 September 1974 (1974-09-09) (age 33)
Place of Birth	Mount Barker, South Australia
Recruited from	Assumption College
Draft	13th overall, 1991 Hawthorn Hawks
Height/Weight	174cm / 79kg
Club information
Current club	Hawthorn
Number	9
Playing Career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1993-	Hawthorn	296 (220)
¹ Club statistics to end of R10, 2008 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}} Career highlights AFL AFL Rising Star nominee 1993 Brownlow Medal 1999 AFLPA Most Valuable Player award 1999 Victorian State of Origin representative Alex Jesaulenko Medal 1998 Leigh Matthews Trophy 1999 All-Australian 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002 International Rules Series 1998, 1999, 2002 Hawthorn Best and Fairest 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003 Captain 1999-2004 Best Hawthorn Clubman 2005 Ansett Cup 1999 Premiership side

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^{[citation needed]}. 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. 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 work ethic. Although he has also been highly criticised for never going in for the 'hard ball gets', preferring to let his team mates take the hits and then pick up the crumbs.

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. Again criticism has been levelled that Crawford only ever shows any true form when the rest of the team is literally floundering; however when the team performs as a cohesive unit Crawfords contribution level is average at best.

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 some form in the 2005 season, and was 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 quickly revealed to be a copy.) Once again much has been made of Crawfords true commitment to football, with many suggesting that he is simply using it as a stepping stone to a more highly desired position as a regular television celebrity or even actor. This would seem to substantiate the earlier comment regarding the 'hard ball gets' as he does not wish to damage his appearance in any way for the television.

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". produced by boxing identity Peter Maniatis and Hollywood actor Louis Mandylor [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. They are expecting their second child in early November 2008 ^[1]

In 2007, Crawford appeared in a series of television ads with Adam Goodes for Campbell's Chunky Soup.

[edit] References

1. ^ Crawford baby a Melbourne Cup double | Herald Sun

[edit] External links

• Shane Crawford profile on the Official AFL Website of the Hawthorn Football Club
• Shane Crawford's statistics from AFL Tables

• Google Video featuring Shane Crawford punching Sam Newman on the Footy Show