Benjamin Anthony Robbins (born 27 December 1976) is a former

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 with the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

, the

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

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

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). Robbins, who was from

Maffra Maffra is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agricu ...

, played 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 ...

for Gippsland Power before he was recruited by the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

with the 33rd pick of the 1993 AFL draft. The son of former

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

player

Graham Robbins Graham Martin Robbins (born 6 May 1949) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Robbins, who came from Catani, played at Richmond for three seasons, including their premiership y ...

, he chose to remain in

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

and it was not until 1995 that he made the move to Western Australia. Robbins was unable to break into the Eagles team and instead spent the season playing for

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL). As a result, he was traded at the end of the year to the Brisbane Bears, for pick 66 in the draft which was used on Neil Marshall. After making his AFL debut in 1996, Robbins changed clubs again for the

1997 AFL season The 1997 AFL season was the 101st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season ran from 27 ...

due to the merger between the Bears and Fitzroy. A midfielder, Robbins struggled to cement a spot in the Lions' team as they already had a strong combination in the middle. He made 11 appearances in 2001, Brisbane's premiership winning season, but did not participate in the finals. Robbins was then delisted and he nominated for the

2001 AFL draft The 2001 AFL draft consisted of a state draft, a body draft, a pre-season draft and a trade period. The AFL draft is the annual draft of players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Austr ...

, where he was picked up by the Kangaroos with the 54th selection. He played in all of the Victorian club's 23 games in 2002 and featured prominently again in 2003, however he spent the 2004 season 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) with

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Ben 1976 births Brisbane Bears players Brisbane Lions players North Melbourne Football Club players Perth Football Club players Port Melbourne Football Club players Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Gippsland Power players Maffra Football Club players People from Maffra