Aaron Sandilands

Aaron Sandilands towers over Carlton's Lance Whitnall at the Telstra Dome in 2006
Personal information
Birth	6 December 1982 (1982-12-06) (age 26)
Recruited from	East Fremantle
Height and weight	211cm / 119kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 1,30 March 2003, Fremantle. vs. Adelaide., at Football Park
Team(s)	Fremantle (2003-) 135 games, 47 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2009 season
Career highlights
AFL Rising Star nominee Round 14, 2003. Named in the WA State of Origin Team, 2006 All-Australian 2008, 2009 Ross Glendinning Medallist round 17 2009

Aaron Sandilands (born 6 December 1982) is an Australian rules footballer. At 211 cm (6' 11") tall and weighing 125 kg (275 lb), he is the equal tallest^[1] player in the history of the game. Sandilands plays as a ruckman for the Fremantle Football Club.

[edit] Fremantle career

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^[2] and playing in Fremantle's first ever finals match. Despite Essendon being convincing winners, Sandilands was one of the few to perform well, with 41 hitouts.^[3]

As ruckmen are generally considered to peak in their late 20s,^[4] 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 ^[5]. Despite this dominance in hitouts, it doesn't always result in Fremantle winning the clearances.^[6]

In 2006 Sandilands suffered a broken jaw in the round 6 Western Derby in a clash with West Coast Eagles ruckman Mark Seaby.^[7] Following an investigation by the AFL, no charges were laid over the incident.^[8]

Sandilands has twice been named in the All-Australian Team, on the interchange bench in 2008^[9] and as the only ruckman in the 2009 team.^[10]

[edit] External links

• Aaron Sandilands profile on the Official AFL Website of the Fremantle Football Club
• Aaron Sandilands's statistics from AFL Tables

[edit] References