Adrian Fletcher (born 10 October 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach. He is regarded as one of football's nomads, having played for five Australian Football League clubs in his 13-year career. Fletcher's play relied on being an excellent play reader which resulted in him being a prolific possession gatherer, especially by handball.

Early career

Fletcher was recruited from the

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian r ...

(TFL) club Glenorchy with the 20th selection in the 1988 VFL draft by 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 2 ...

after winning the

William Leitch Medal The William Leitch Medal, named after the highly regarded former Australian rules player and Tasmanian Football Administrator William Douglas Leitch (1863-1943), was an annual award which was presented to the best and fairest player in the TANFL/ ...

as the best player in the TFL. He played 23 games for Geelong between

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, kicking 10 goals. Fletcher was traded to St Kilda in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

, where he played 22 games, kicking 10 goals. Due to a contract dispute, he left the Saints and was selected by the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL ...

with the 4th selection in the 1993 Pre-season draft.

Brisbane career

Fletcher made his name as a tough, ball-winning midfielder at Brisbane. Between 1993 and 1996, Fletcher played 86 of a possible 90 games, finishing in the top five of the club champion award in each year. He was a significant player in the Bears' 1996 preliminary final loss to

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

playing on the half back line. In 1997, however, his form slumped after the lack of a solid pre-season. He fought back, however, and ended up with a season average of 19 possessions per game in 21 games. However, despite a season that, although starting badly, was not considered by Fletcher to be his worst, he was traded to the Fremantle Dockers.

Fremantle career

Fletcher had an immediate impact at Fremantle, finishing second in the club's

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 ...

award in 1998 and winning it in 1999. He was then named co-captain along with

Shaun McManus Shaun John McManus (born 9 February 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer. He is one of the most popular players to ever represent the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and is often seen as an icon or f ...

in 2000 and 2001. At the end of the 2001 season he was asked to retire by the Fremantle club despite being ranked in the AFL's top 20 for overall disposals and also was in the AFL's top five for handballs. He played 79 games for the Dockers ending up with 25 goals. While at Fremantle, Fletcher is remembered for being the player who kicked the ball to field umpire Peter Carey, when Carey famously and humorously took a chest mark in general play. After Fremantle, Fletcher played for Williamstown in the VFL in 2002 and 2003, appearing in 41 games and booting 17 goals. He was best-on-ground in the 2003 VFL grand final victory by Williamstown over Box Hill at Princes Park and received the Norm Goss Medal, as well as winning the best and fairest award during his two years with the VFL Seagulls. He was assistant coach under Brad Gotch in 2002.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 4 , , 8 , , 5 , , 1 , , 76 , , 53 , , 129 , , 22 , , 4 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 9.5 , , 6.6 , , 16.1 , , 2.8 , , 0.5 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, , 4 , , 9 , , 3 , , 2 , , 106 , , 93 , , 199 , , 23 , , 11 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 11.8 , , 10.3 , , 22.1 , , 2.6 , , 1.2 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 4 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 68 , , 62 , , 130 , , 19 , , 10 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 11.3 , , 10.3 , , 21.7 , , 3.2 , , 1.7 , , 0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 16 , , 22 , , 10 , , 7 , , 231 , , 223 , , 454 , , 73 , , 38 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 10.5 , , 10.1 , , 20.6 , , 3.3 , , 1.7 , , 5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, , 6 , , 20 , , 15 , , 6 , , 236 , , 235 , , 471 , , 87 , , 41 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 11.8 , , 11.8 , , 23.6 , , 4.4 , , 2.1 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, , 6 , , 19 , , 5 , , 5 , , 236 , , 213 , , 449 , , 68 , , 35 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 12.4 , , 11.2 , , 23.6 , , 3.6 , , 1.8 , , 6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, , 6 , , 23 , , 14 , , 11 , , 319 , , 294 , , 613 , , 96 , , 49 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 13.9 , , 12.8 , , 26.7 , , 4.2 , , 2.1 , , 7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

, , 6 , , 24 , , 15 , , 17 , , 341 , , 239 , , 580 , , 90 , , 61 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 14.2 , , 10.0 , , 24.2 , , 3.8 , , 2.5 , , 14 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, , 6 , , 21 , , 4 , , 10 , , 238 , , 172 , , 410 , , 84 , , 59 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 11.3 , , 8.2 , , 19.5 , , 4.0 , , 2.8 , , 8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , 2 , , 16 , , 8 , , 6 , , 225 , , 142 , , 367 , , 68 , , 40 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 14.1 , , 8.9 , , 22.9 , , 4.3 , , 2.5 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

, , 2 , , 22 , , 9 , , 5 , , 298 , , 283 , , 581 , , 105 , , 38 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 13.5 , , 12.9 , , 26.4 , , 4.8 , , 1.7 , , 15 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, , 2 , , 20 , , 4 , , 2 , , 215 , , 220 , , 435 , , 67 , , 53 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.8 , , 11.0 , , 21.8 , , 3.4 , , 2.7 , , 10 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, , 2 , , 21 , , 3 , , 5 , , 230 , , 250 , , 480 , , 97 , , 54 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 11.0 , , 11.9 , , 22.9 , , 4.6 , , 2.6 , , 3 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 231 ! 97 ! 77 ! 2819 ! 2479 ! 5298 ! 899 ! 493 ! 0.4 ! 0.3 ! 12.2 ! 10.7 ! 22.9 ! 3.9 ! 2.1 ! 76

Post AFL and coaching career

After being delisted by Fremantle after the 2001 season and not being drafted by another AFL club, Fletcher retired from the AFL, and played for

Williamstown Football Club The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne. The club currently competes in the men's and women's Victorian Football League and VFLW competitions. History The Williamstown F ...

in the

VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

for two years. He won the Williamstown best and fairest award in both these seasons and also won the

Norm Goss Medal The Norm Goss Memorial Medal is awarded to the player judged to be the best afield in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier ...

for best on ground in the 2003 VFL grand final, Fletcher's last game of senior football. He also was a development coach 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 ...

(Williamstown's AFL-affiliate) during this time. In 2004, Fletcher joined the

as an assistant coach, before returning to Collingwood in 2005 as their midfield coach. After the 2007 season he left Collingwood and returned to the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of t ...

as an assistant coach, where he remains as of 2011. He has made several appearances in

AFL Legends Match The E. J. Whitten Legends Game was an annual Australian sports entertainment Australian rules football match. It is played for charity played as an all-star game. Retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebriti ...

es. His wife,

Narelle Fletcher Narelle is a given name and surname and may refer to: People *Marie Narelle, (1870–1941), Australian singer *Narelle Autio, (born 1969), Australian photographer *Narelle Jubelin, (born 1960), Australian artist *Narelle Kellner, (1934–1987), Aus ...

, played 295 games in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Ba ...

.Howell, Stephen (30 January 2003
Veteran Fletcher ices a stunning career
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Adrian 1969 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Tasmania Brisbane Bears players Brisbane Lions players Geelong Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Fremantle Football Club players Doig Medal winners Williamstown Football Club players William Leitch Medal winners Glenorchy Football Club players Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees Allies State of Origin players Tasmanian State of Origin players Fremantle Football Club captains