Damien Peverill
Pevrill playing for Essendon
Personal information
Date of birth	12 July 1979 (1979-07-12) (age 30)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria
Recruited from	Keilor Park Football Club
Height/Weight	186 cm / 83kg
Position(s)	Midfielder, tagger
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2001-08 2009	Essendon Collingwood VFL (captain)	144 (32)
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W-L-D)
2009	Assistant coach, Collingwood VFL
1 Playing statistics to end of 2008 season .

Damien Peverill (born 12 July 1979) is an Australian Rules Football who played 144 senior games with Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League between 2001 and 2008. He is currently captain and assistant coach of Collingwood's VFL team. Peverill is known as a strong and hard-working player.^[1]

Contents 1 Early career 2 Eseendon rookie (2001) 3 Essendon senior team (2002-2008) 4 Collingwood VFL team 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Early career

Peverill grew up in the Melbourne suburb of East Keilor and played his junior football at Keilor Park Football Club. He was passed over in four successive AFL National Drafts and three AFL Pre-season Drafts before being selected for Melbourne Football Club's Rookie list. However, he was not able to break into the senior side there, and was delisted.

[edit] Eseendon rookie (2001)

A lifelong Essendon supporter, Peverill was placed on Essendon's rookie list in 2001^{[citation needed]} and was quickly elevated to the senior list due the long-term injury list of the prominent midfielder Joe Misiti prior to Round 4. On debut, against Sydney at the SCG, he successfully tagged Swans playmaker Wayne Schwass and scored a late goal. As a rookie, he wore the number 45 jumper. After suffering an arm injury on ANZAC Day, Peverill returned the following week against West Coast Eagles. Over the following six weeks he become an important member of Essendon's midfield. Peverill was returned to the rookie list after Round 12 clash due to the return of Misiti from injury. The team honoured Peveril's contibution as a rookie by allowing him to lead the players off the ground. The following week Peverill played in the Essendon reserve team and suffered another injury which kept him out for the remainder of the 2001 season.

[edit] Essendon senior team (2002-2008)

Peverill was promoted to Essendon's senior list for the 2002 season and was given jumper number 11 following the departure of Damien Hardwick. He enjoyed what would be the best season of his career, playing 21 games and winning 8 Brownlow votes despite wearing a cast on his arm for a good portion of the season.

Over his career, Peverill has become a key player for Essendon, mainly as a tagger but also as a key midfielder. He was also known as one of the hardest-working players at training^{[citation needed]} and considered a part of the club's leadership group. He played his 100th game in 2006.

Later form, however, was not been up to the same standard of early senior years and his critics claimed a lack of pace and questionable disposal, particularly in relatin to his kicking^{[citation needed]}. Peverill did, however, lead Essendon in number of "disposals" and "hard ball gets" during 2007, despite limited action. He finished with 30 or more disposals in six games.^[2]

It was widely reported in May 2008 Essendon's then new senior coach, Matthew Knights had indicated to Peverill he would given fewer playing opportunities for the remainder of the 2008 season, in order to develop the club's younger players for the future.^[3] Peverill did, however, make a successful return to the senior team midway through 2008 and enjoyed a prolific fortnight against Brisbane and Richmond, winning 24 disposals in the four-point loss to the Tigers in round 16.

Peverill was delisted by Essendon at the end of 2008 and played his last game for Essendon in Round 22 alongside retirees Mal Michael, Jason Johnson and Adam Ramanauskas against St. Kilda. He indicated that he was keen to play on with another club in 2009^[4], but was not successful in his attempt to be drafted.^[5].

[edit] Collingwood VFL team

In January 2009, Collingwood Football Club announced that Peverill had been appointed captain and playing assistant coach of their VFL team for the 2009 season.^[6] Peverill stated that he had not actively sought a coaching position, but had been approached by Collingwood who offered him the role. He has been a key figure in the side's strong start to 2009, and represented Victoria in the EJ Whitten Legends Match against the All Stars midseason.

[edit] External links

• Damien Peverill profile on the Official AFL Website of the Essendon Football Club
• Damien Peverill's statistics from AFL Tables

v • d • e Essendon Football Club – current squad 1 Neagle · 2 Dyson · 3 Gumbleton · 4 Watson · 5 Stanton · 6 Monfries · 7 Jetta · 8 Winderlich · 9 Prismall · 10 McVeigh · 11 Zaharakis · 12 Welsh · 14 Lonergan · 15 Dempsey · 16 Pears · 19 Hille · 20 H.Slattery · 22 Hurley · 23 Myers · 24 J.Williams * · 26 Hooker · 27 Laycock · 28 Daniher · 29 Davey · 30 Ryder · 31 Fletcher · 35 Still · 36 T.Slattery · 37 Reimers · 38 Atkinson · 39 Hocking · 41 Quinn * · 42 Lovett-Murray · 43 Houli · 44 Bellchambers · 46 Bock * · n/a M.Williams · n/a Melksham · n/a Carlisle · n/a Colyer · n/a Long · n/a Hardingham · n/a Silverlock * · n/a Howlett * · n/a Crameri * · n/a Marigliani * · Coach: Knights * denotes Rookie Listed players

[edit] References