Travis Varcoe (born 10 April 1988) is a retired

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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling ...

(AFL) for the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 20 ...

from 2006 to 2014 and for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club ...

from 2015 to 2020. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

Career

Varcoe debuted in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. O ...

(SANFL) for the Central District Football Club in 2005 at the age of 17. A foot injury early in the season held him back from performing in front of prospective recruiters, before

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

selected him at the end of the first round with the 15th overall pick in the 2005 National Draft.

Geelong

Varcoe was given the honour of wearing Geelong's number five guernsey, previously worn by club legends Gary Ablett and

Polly Farmer Graham Vivian "Polly" Farmer (10 March 1935 14 August 2019) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the East Perth Football Club and West Perth Football Club in th ...

. Varcoe plays as a forward pocket but can also play as a midfielder if required, drawing comparisons to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

speedster

Aaron Davey Aaron Davey (born 10 June 1983) is a professional Australian rules football player of Indigenous Australian heritage. He played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) until he retired from the club at the end ...

, with his consistent forwardline pressure and high-speed chase downs on the field. Varcoe is often referred to as "The Magician" with his quick, at times invisible handballs and tricky skills. Varcoe played a key utility role for Geelong in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, which included a valuable contribution in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

as Geelong defeated the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates ...

. Varcoe played a critical role in delivering a handball to Paul Chapman late in the game which resulted in a brilliant Chapman goal, giving Geelong a six-point lead. Shortly after, team mate

Max Rooke Max Rooke (born Jarad Maxwell Rooke on 19 December 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility player, tall and weighing , Rooke's versatility allo ...

scored a goal after the final siren to give Geelong a 12-point win. Going into the

2010 AFL season The 2010 AFL season was the 114th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

, Varcoe put in the most promising preseason of his career, only to succumb to a thumb injury that put him out for the first few weeks of the season. However, on his return to the senior side, Varcoe played well enough to finish ninth in Geelong's 2010

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

count. Varcoe kicked the first goal of the

2011 AFL Grand Final The 2011 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and the Geelong Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2011. It was the 116th annual grand final of the Au ...

inside the first 10 seconds of the match. He also kicked the second goal of the match, however his goal at the eight-minute mark in the 4th quarter was possibly goal of the season. Before kicking the goal Varcoe took a mark in Geelong's backline whilst he was almost simultaneously bumped, forcing the ball free and the mark going unpaid. However Varcoe then ran forward with the play, gathering possessions and ultimately converting a goal from inside 50 moments later. He would pick up his 2nd premiership medallion, as Geelong won by 38 points. As of Round 11, 2015, Varcoe had played in 149 games and, of those 149 games, had won 122 of those games. He was also the quickest player to reach 100 wins, playing in his 100th win in his 113th game.

Collingwood

On 15 October 2014, Varcoe was traded to the Collingwood Football Club in a three-way trade between Collingwood, Geelong and Melbourne which also saw Mitch Clark and Heritier Lumumba find new clubs. Despite being considered past his best during his last year at Geelong, Varcoe has enjoyed a renaissance of form since moving to Collingwood, playing arguably the best football of his career. Varcoe was considered one of the best recruits of the 2015 season. After Collingwood was eliminated from the 2020 AFL finals series, Varcoe announced his retirement from football.

Personal life

In August 2007, Varcoe caused controversy after concerns were raised about the racial and sexual content featured on his MySpace page. The Geelong Football Club acted swiftly, removing the content immediately after it came to its attention. Varcoe's sister Maggie died in August 2018 following an on-field collision whilst playing for Angle Vale Football Club in the

Adelaide Footy League The Adelaide Footy League, formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League (SAAFL), is a semi-professional Australian rules football competition based in Adelaide, South Australia. Comprising sixty-seven member clubs playing over ...

Grand Final. Travis continued to play for Collingwood in the weeks after her death as a tribute to her. The design of Collingwood 2019 Indigenous guernsey was inspired by Maggie and was designed by Travis' sister in law.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2020 season'' , - , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 18 , , 15 , , 7 , , 72 , , 72 , , 144 , , 35 , , 57 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 4.0 , , 4.0 , , 8.0 , , 1.9 , , 3.2 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 16 , , 14 , , 7 , , 98 , , 87 , , 185 , , 45 , , 72 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 6.1 , , 5.4 , , 11.6 , , 2.8 , , 4.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 22 , , 22 , , 14 , , 140 , , 173 , , 313 , , 65 , , 75 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 6.4 , , 7.9 , , 14.2 , , 3.0 , , 3.4 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 20 , , 31 , , 13 , , 146 , , 174 , , 320 , , 72 , , 82 , , 1.6 , , 0.7 , , 7.3 , , 8.7 , , 16.0 , , 3.6 , , 4.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 24 , , 31 , , 17 , , 187 , , 202 , , 389 , , 57 , , 51 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 7.8 , , 8.4 , , 16.2 , , 2.4 , , 2.1 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , , 1 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 14 , , 8 , , 6 , , 74 , , 95 , , 169 , , 25 , , 59 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 5.3 , , 6.8 , , 12.1 , , 1.8 , , 4.2 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 5 , , 18 , , 8 , , 6 , , 113 , , 152 , , 265 , , 52 , , 68 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 6.3 , , 8.4 , , 14.7 , , 2.9 , , 3.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 22 , , 10 , , 10 , , 185 , , 193 , , 378 , , 90 , , 89 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 8.4 , , 8.8 , , 17.2 , , 4.1 , , 4.0 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 17 , , 6 , , 13 , , 128 , , 124 , , 252 , , 69 , , 73 , , 0.4 , , 0.8 , , 7.5 , , 7.3 , , 14.8 , , 4.1 , , 4.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 8 , , 2 , , 1 , , 49 , , 60 , , 109 , , 25 , , 19 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , , 7.5 , , 13.6 , , 3.1 , , 2.4 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 20 , , 13 , , 7 , , 127 , , 110 , , 237 , , 42 , , 62 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 6.4 , , 5.5 , , 11.9 , , 2.1 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 16 , , 9 , , 6 , , 94 , , 105 , , 199 , , 59 , , 42 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 5.9 , , 6.6 , , 12.4 , , 3.7 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #eaeaea" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 18 , , 9 , , 1 , , 2 , , 54 , , 42 , , 96 , , 21 , , 15 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 6.0 , , 4.7 , , 10.7 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 230 ! 171 ! 109 ! 1506 ! 1641 ! 3147 ! 674 ! 785 ! 0.7 ! 0.5 ! 6.5 ! 7.1 ! 13.7 ! 2.9 ! 3.4

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varcoe, Travis 1988 births Living people Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club Premiership players Collingwood Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Geelong Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Central District Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Australia international rules football team players I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) participants Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players