Andrew Merrington (born 27 November 1978) is an Australian rules footballer. Merrington played

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vic ...

football for the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

, but was not immediately drafted and went to play for St Bernard's Old Collegians in the

VAFA The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4. In addition the ...

. Following a year at St Bernard's, he was recruited to the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

by the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of ...

in the 1999 National Draft, Merrington was considered a future

key position Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

/ ruckman prospect. However he only played 18 games with the Blues until the end of the 2003 season, where he was delisted after spending much time with either the Carlton

reserves team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

or the

Northern Bullants The Preston Football Club, which trades and plays as the Northern Bullants, is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston that plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It plays its home games at the Preston City O ...

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 ...

, rather than the senior Carlton team. After being delisted he was recruited by

East Perth East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

in the WAFL. He immediately cemented himself a place in the side usually playing centre half forward, and was rewarded with state selection for Western Australia in his first year. Merrington won the 2005 F.D. Book Medal for being 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 ...

player, and became a vice captain in 2006. Merrington left East Perth at the end of 2010. He returned to his former amateur side, St Bernard's, in 2011. He is the son of former Footscray player Gary Merrington.

References

External links

Andrew Merrington at the Carlton Football Club website
* East Perth Football Club players Carlton Football Club players 1978 births Living people Preston Football Club (VFA) players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) {{AFL-bio-1970s-stub