Ben Hudson (born 24 February 1979) is a former 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

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

and

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

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 has served as the defensive skills, ruck and forwards coach at the

since September 2014. He was also the ruck coach for Collingwood after being selected as a mature age rookie player in the 2012 rookie draft.

Early life

Hudson was born in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, but moved to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

at 8 years old where he grew up in Palm Beach, a suburb of the Gold Coast. He first played junior football for Palm Beach Currumbin before focusing on basketball while he attended Somerset College on the Gold Coast throughout his teenage years. Hudson played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

until 2000, when he began driving to Brisbane to study physiotherapy at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, living at Union College, where he played for the University of Queensland Australian Football Club at 21 years of age as a ruckman. His coach later recommended that he play for Mount Gravatt Football Club where he played under coach Danny Craven. At Mount Gravatt, he won a

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 ...

in 2001, before taking part in the club's 2002 premiership side. That year he represented Queensland against Western Australia. He later returned to Victoria, where he tried out with the

Werribee Football Club The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-base ...

, where at the relatively late age of 24,

talent scouts recognised his skills and lured him to the AFL at pick number 58 in the 2003 AFL Draft.

AFL career

Adelaide

As a mobile ruckman, Hudson enjoyed a successful debut before seriously injuring the

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in his right knee during a fall on the eve of the 2005 finals series. He required a full knee reconstruction, which resulted in the return of veteran ruckman Matthew Clarke back from the brink of retirement. Hudson recovered well from the injury to play in the

SANFL 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. ...

late in 2006. He returned to the

Crows The Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) is a series of remote weapon stations used by the US military on its armored vehicles and ships. It allows weapon operators to engage targets without leaving the protection of their vehicle. ...

in 2007 and performed well throughout the year, playing 22 games, garnering 366 hit-outs and finishing second overall in the AFL for hardball gets. During the year he was suspended for one week by the club for breaking the team curfew. He was also allegedly upset by criticism from Adelaide coach Neil Craig. On 19 September 2007 Hudson asked to be traded to the

, after contract negotiations with Adelaide broke down.

Western Bulldogs

Hudson officially joined the Western Bulldogs on a three-year contract on 12 October 2007, after the Adelaide Football Club's hand was forced into a trade. Hudson has fitted in well at his new club and his superb performance against ladder leaders Hawthorn led coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of t ...

to name him the trade of the year. Hudson was elected into the Western Bulldogs Leadership Group by the players for the 2009 Season, joining Captain Brad Johnson,

Daniel Giansiracusa Daniel Giansiracusa (born 11 March 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He had been used in various positions such as the midfield, half back flanks and hal ...

, Robert Murphy, Daniel Cross, Matthew Boyd, Dale Morris and

Shaun Higgins Shaun Higgins (born 4 March 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). Higgins played for the Western Bulldogs from 2006 to 2014, the North Melbourne Football Club from 2015 to ...

. In the Round 11 match against St. Kilda, Hudson was charged with a Level Two striking offence against

Leigh Montagna Leigh “Joey” Montagna (; born 2 November 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A two time All-Australian, Montagna finished his career 7 ...

during the second quarter, because the action was considered to be of intentional conduct (three points), low impact (one point) and body contact (one point). A Level Two offence draws 125 demerit points and a one-match sanction. However, because Hudson had no existing good or bad record, an early plea could reduce the penalty by 25 percent to a reprimand and 93.75 points towards his future record, which he accepted.

Brisbane Lions

On 24 August 2011 Ben Hudson announced that he was to retire from football at the end of the season and move to Queensland, however an offer from the Brisbane Lions talked him out of retirement, and the Bulldogs traded him to the Lions for Pick #70 in the AFL National Draft.

Collingwood

Hudson announced his intentions to again come out of retirement and started training with Collingwood on 27 November in hopes of them drafting him as a mature aged rookie. On 11 December, Collingwood drafted him in the 2013 Rookie Draft. Hudson played his first game for Collingwood on 14 April, against Hawthorn. Collingwood also used Hudson as the club's ruck coach during his two years. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Hudson retired from playing football.

Return to Brisbane Lions

After retiring from playing football and following his work as a ruck coach with Collingwood, Hudson returned to Brisbane Lions when he was announced forward, defensive skills and ruck coach for 2015 on 18 September 2014. He has maintained this coaching role in 2016.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Ben 1979 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players Western Bulldogs players Brisbane Lions players North Adelaide Football Club players Werribee Football Club players Mount Gravatt Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Brisbane Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) University of Queensland alumni Australian people of Canadian descent Collingwood Football Club players