Ariel Steinberg (born 26 August 1992 in

Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

, Victoria, Australia) is an

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

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

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 made his senior debut against in round 21 of the 2014 season.

AFL career

Steinberg was selected by Essendon with the thirty-first pick in the 2010 AFL Draft in November 2010. Ariel was drafted from the

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the Talent League. History The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in Talent League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Vic ...

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 ...

having joined the Pioneers squad halfway through the 2010 season. He started playing for the Bendigo Bombers in their 2011 season. He kicked 3 goals against Frankston on 17 April 2011. He kicked 5 goals against the Box Hill Hawks on 19 June 2011. He kicked four goals against the Werribee Tigers on 7 August 2011. He kicked three goals against the Northern Bullants on 4 September 2011. He scored 25 goals in 2011. He was delisted in October 2015. Steinberg, along with 33 other Essendon players, was found guilty of using a banned performance-enhancing substance,

thymosin beta-4 Thymosin beta-4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TMSB4X'' gene. Recommended INN (International Nonproprietary Name) for thymosin beta-4 is 'timbetasin', as published by the World Health Organization (WHO). The protein consists (in ...

, as part of Essendon's sports supplements program during the 2012 season. He and his teammates were initially found not guilty in March 2015 by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal, but a guilty verdict was returned in January 2016 after an appeal by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

. He was suspended for two years which, with backdating, ended in November 2016; as a result, he served approximately fourteen months of his suspension and missed the entire

2016 VFL season The 2016 VFL season was the 135th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), a second-tier Australian rules football competition played in the state of Victoria. The season started on Saturday 9 April and concluded Sunday 25 September wit ...

, during which time he had intended to play for VFL club Williamstown.

Personal life

Growing up in Mildura, he supported the

, and his hero was Matthew Lloyd. In 2009, Steinberg played gridiron in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada whilst on student exchange. In Canada, Steinberg was the punter for his high school, the McNally Tigers, and he also played regular Aussie Rules games for the Edmonton men's side and helped coach and umpire for the Emus women's team. Women's Australian rules Football in Edmonton now rapidly growing supplying half the women for the Canadian National team. He has two sisters, Hadassah and Yael, and brother Asher.

References

External links

*
Draft Profile
on afl.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinberg, Ariel Essendon Football Club players Living people 1992 births Australian sportspeople in doping cases Bendigo Football Club players Bendigo Pioneers players Australian rules footballers from Mildura 21st-century Australian sportsmen