Aaron vandenBerg (born 3 March 1992) is a professional

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

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

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). A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, tall and weighing , vandenBerg has the ability to contribute as both an

inside Inside may refer to: Film * ''Inside'' (1996 film), an American television film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Eric Stoltz * ''Inside'' (2002 film), a Canadian prison drama film * ''Inside'' (2006 film), an American thriller film starri ...

and

outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

midfielder, whilst also pushing into the forward line. After missing out on the draft at eighteen years of age, vandenBerg played in the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL ) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural ...

(NEAFL) with the Ainslie Football Club where he won two

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 ...

awards and was twice named in the NEAFL team of the year. His performances in the NEAFL saw him recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the second selection in the 2015 rookie draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2015 season.

Early life

Originally from

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, vandenBerg moved to

Tathra, New South Wales Tathra () is a seaside town on the Sapphire Coast found on the South Coast, New South Wales, Australia. As of the , Tathra had a population of 1,675. Nearby points of interest are the Old Tathra Wharf, Mimosa Rocks National Park and Bournda ...

with his family at ten-years of age where he played junior football with the Tathra Football Club. He was first noticed as a potential AFL player in 2007 by then- recruiter, Jason Taylor, however he was not drafted due to lacking "the drive to be an AFL footballer." He moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

in 2011 to join in the

(NEAFL), where he won the eastern conference premiership in his first year, and back-to-back Hibberson Cup Trophies as the club

player in 2013 and 2014. In addition, he was named in the NEAFL team of the year on the wing and as the ruck rover in 2013 and 2014 respectively. During 2014, he amassed fifty-six disposals in a match against Eastlake, which contributed to him being recognised as a high-disposal winner and put him back on the AFL radar. Then at , Jason Taylor and the club decided to recruit him in December 2014. Whilst living in Canberra, he was completing a four-year apprenticeship at the

Royal Australian Mint The Royal Australian Mint is the national mint of Australia, and the primary production facility for the country’s circulating coins. The mint is a Commonwealth Government entity operating within the portfolio of the Treasury, and is situat ...

, but ended it after two and a half years to move to Melbourne.

AFL career

VandenBerg was drafted by the

with their first selection and second overall in the 2015 rookie draft. After a shoulder reconstruction at the end of 2014, Melbourne football operations manager, Josh Mahoney, stated vandenBerg was "exceeding expectations" and he made his debut in the 2015 opening round with a 26-point win against at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

. He was named in the best players for Melbourne and recorded seventeen disposals, four marks and a goal. Lauded for his tenacity and ability to win the contested ball, he played the first ten matches of the year before suffering a hamstring strain in the annual Queen's Birthday clash against . He returned to the side in round fifteen against , and he played the next four matches before injuring his ankle in August; he was then ruled out for the rest of the season after playing 14 matches in his debut season. After signing a contract extension until the end of the 2017 season, he was promoted from the rookie list to the senior list for the 2016 season onward. Despite suffering from an ankle injury during the 2016 pre-season, vandenBerg played the start of the season in the senior side. He played in the first three matches of the season before re-aggravating his ankle injury, and he was forced to miss a month of football. He made his return to football in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL), playing for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions. He returned to the senior side for the 18-point loss against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 11. He played the next five matches before missing the round eighteen match against at Domain Stadium due to a hip injury. He returned the next week for the two-point win against Gold Coast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where he kicked a career-high three goals and was named in Melbourne's best. He played the remainder of the season to finish with fourteen games.

Statistics

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 37 , , 14 , , 12 , , 9 , , 80 , , 125 , , 205 , , 43 , , 50 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 5.7 , , 8.9 , , 14.6 , , 3.1 , , 3.6 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , 22 , , 12 , , 1 , , 1 , , 73 , , 69 , , 142 , , 34 , , 31 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 6.1 , , 5.8 , , 11.8 , , 2.8 , , 2.6 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , 22 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 18 , , 9 , , 27 , , 3 , , 8 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , , 6.8 , , 0.8 , , 2.0 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 51 ! 23 ! 28 ! 375 ! 345 ! 720 ! 154 ! 181 ! 0.5 ! 0.5 ! 7.4 ! 6.8 ! 14.1 ! 3.0 ! 3.5 ! 3 Notes

References

External links

* *
Aaron vandenBerg's profile
from Demonwiki {{DEFAULTSORT:vandenBerg, Aaron 1992 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory Melbourne Football Club players Ainslie Football Club players Casey Demons players Australian people of Dutch descent 21st-century Australian sportsmen