Bret Thornton

Personal information
Birth	15 November 1983 (1983-11-15) (age 26)
Recruited from	Waverley Blues / Oakleigh Chargers
Height and weight	193cm / 95kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 10, 2 June 2002, Carlton vs. Fremantle, at Subiaco
Team(s)	Carlton (2002-) 149 games, 4 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2008 season
Career highlights
Preseason premiership player: 2005, 2007

Bret "T-Bird" Thornton (born 15 November 1983) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

He made his debut for the Carlton Football Club in Round 10, 2002 against Fremantle after being elevated from the rookie list that year.

Thornton has been an important part of the Carlton backline since his debut in 2002. The retirements of Stephen Silvagni, Michael Sexton and Ang Christou over a two year period saw a major gap left in the Carlton defence, and the young Thornton quickly found himself forced to try to fill that hole. Over the next few years, constantly defending against top forwards with more experience, Thornton developed into an important and reliable defender for the club.

With the development of Carlton's backline through the mid-2000s, Thornton's role became more variable. He still plays full-back when required, with reasonable capability against both leading and tall marking forwards, but Carlton benefits significantly when he is able to push up the ground and direct play from centre half-back. He played every game in 2006, and played his 100th game in 2007, becoming the ninth-youngest Carlton player to achieve the milestone.

The Hawthorn Football Club has been particularly keen to acquire Thonton's services. They expressed interest in trading for the out-of-contract Thornton for the 2007 season, and Thornton similarly named Hawthorn as his preferred destination for 2007. Carlton refused to agree to a trade, stating that Thornton was a required player at the club. After no trade was made, Thornton re-signed with Carlton on the 14 October 2006 for a 3 year deal. Hawthorn again expressed an interest in trading for Thornton for the 2008 season, but Carlton again refused.

In Round 19, 2009 against the Geelong Cats, Thornton accumulated a career high 30 disposals.

[edit] External links

• Bret Thornton profile on the Official AFL Website of the Carlton Football Club
• Bret Thornton's statistics from AFL Tables
• Bret Thornton Profile in Blueseum

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