Michael Apeness (born 28 January 1995) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He mainly played as a key position forward or ruckman. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

Early life

Apeness was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, but moved to Melbourne when he was 7 years old. He attended Donvale Christian College all the way until Year 12. He played for the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

, but at age 16 decided to play

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. He was selected to play in a

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

development squad, but after tearing the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in his knee, and despite the Rebels assisting in his rehabilitation he decided to switch back to play Australian football. He represented Victoria Metro at the

2013 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2013 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships was the 18th edition of the AFL Under 18 Championships. Eight teams competed in the championships: Vic Metro, Vic Country, South Australia and Western Australia in Division 1, and New South Wales/Australi ...

and played in a TAC Cup premiership with Eastern Ranges. He was selected with the 17th pick at the 2013 national draft by Fremantle. Apeness started the 2014 season playing for Fremantle's affiliate team,

Peel Thunder The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL).

AFL career

Apeness made his AFL debut in Round 16, 2014 against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

TIO Stadium Marrara Oval, currently known as TIO Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Marrara, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. With a seating capacity of 12,215, the ground is the largest stadium in the Nort ...

in Darwin, as a late replacement for

Matthew Pavlich Matthew Lee Pavlich (born 31 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A versatile player, Pavlich is widely regarded as one of the p ...

, who was ill. He played the following week before being dropped back to Peel for the remainder of the season. In 2015, Apeness started the season playing for Peel, but injured his

posterior cruciate ligament The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is a ligament in each knee of humans and various other animals. It works as a counterpart to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). It connects the posterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the Medial condyl ...

(PCL) in his left knee and missed the remainder of the season. He returned from injury with Peel midway through the 2016 season and was recalled to Fremantle's team for the last four matches of the season. He was a member of Peel's inaugural WAFL premiership in 2016. Another knee injury during the 2017 pre-season prevented Apeness from playing early in the year. During his first game back from injury with the Peel reserves, he injured the PCL in his right knee, causing him to again miss the remainder of the season. In 2018 Apeness played the opening six matches of the season for Peel, before being recalled to replace an injured

Aaron Sandilands Aaron Wade Sandilands (born 6 December 1982) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). At tall, and with a peak weight of , he is the second heaviest ...

in round 11. He played five consecutive games, before being dropped back to Peel. The week after signing a contract extension, he badly injured his

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

tendon, ruling him out for the remainder of the season for the third time in his career. At the end of the 2018 season, Apeness was delisted, with the commitment by Fremantle to re-draft him in the rookie draft, however Apeness instead announced his retirement from the AFL.

References

External links

* * *
WAFL playing statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apeness, Michael 1995 births Living people Fremantle Football Club players Peel Thunder Football Club players Eastern Ranges players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen