Brad Ottens (born 25 January 1980) 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

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

and

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

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).

Early life

Ottens was born in South Australia, but raised on a cattle station near

Katherine, Northern Territory Katherine is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is situated on the Katherine River, after which it is named, southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. The Northern Territory#Cities and towns, fourth largest settlement in ...

. He moved to South Australia to board at

Immanuel College, Adelaide Immanuel College is a Lutheran school in Novar Gardens, Adelaide, South Australia – a co-educational day and boarding school from Year 7 to 12, offering the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. Established in 1895, the college ...

where he began to play Australian rules.Brad Ottens: I needed to challenge myself to make a change
from Inside 50 with Crawf & Quinny. He later played senior football with the

Glenelg Football Club The Glenelg Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or the Bays, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Their home ground is Stratarama Stadium (formerly Glenelg Oval), located in the so ...

where he became a standout. Ottens was selected at pick 2 in the

1997 AFL Draft The 1997 AFL Draft was held at the conclusion of the 1997 Australian Football League (AFL) season. A Pre-season Draft and the second Rookie Draft were held prior to the 1998 season. It is considered to have been one of the most successful draf ...

by the

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 ...

AFL career

Richmond: 1998–2004

Ottens made his debut in 1998, rising to prominence with Richmond as a strong overhead marker, with an accurate and long kick for goal. He was also a part-time ruckman. However a season ending ACL knee injury (and reconstruction) posed a major setback to his career. In subsequent years he struggled to regain his form. He kicked 47 of his goals in 2001 for Richmond

Geelong: 2005–2011

In search of a ruckman and key forward target,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

picked up Ottens in a trade for the 2005 season. After debuting in Round 1, and becoming the one thousandth player to play a game for Geelong, he again struggled to have a major impact in the first year at his new club. He was the subject of an infamous post-match press conference by Mark Thompson in 2005. Here Thompson defended Ottens by saying "For some silly reason, you people want to assassinate him. It's just rubbish. You people, all of you, ALL OF YOU, leave him alone!" Some see it as a defining moment for Brad. Since then Ottens has been Geelong's preferred first ruckman. In 2006 Ottens showed signs of improvement, particularly in the ruck. He also took the

Mark of the Year In Australian rules football, a player can take a mark by catching the ball from a kick, which earns protection from tackles. In the Australian Football League (AFL), the mark subjectively judged the best in each season is named Mark of the Y ...

in round 5 against Sydney. He played all 22 games in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. The week after Geelong's exit from the 2006 AFL season, Ottens was involved in a drink driving incident which saw him have his licence cancelled for 11 months. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Ottens was in near career best form. He played a majority of the season as Geelong's main ruckman rather than as a forward where he had played mostly since joining the club. During the Cats' five-point preliminary final win against Collingwood Ottens was voted best-on-ground after giving a game-winning performance in the ruck. The following week he capped off a stellar season, among the best players in his side's record breaking

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

victory over

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

. He noted that it was the highlight of his career. Despite missing most of 2009 with injuries, Ottens made a late comeback and played in another Geelong premiership side. An injury interrupted season in 2010 resulted in a muted effort for the club's disappointing

2010 AFL finals series The Australian Football League's 2010 AFL finals series, finals series determined the top eight final positions of the 2010 AFL season. The series was scheduled to occur over four weekends in September 2010, culminating with the 2010 AFL Grand ...

. In the

2011 AFL season The 2011 AFL season was the 115th 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 featured sev ...

a relatively injury free Ottens had led to him being able to improve his output on recent years. He retired at the end of the 2011 season.

Statistics

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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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , 5 , , 12 , , 2 , , 2 , , 30 , , 33 , , 63 , , 29 , , 5 , , 70 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 2.5 , , 2.8 , , 5.3 , , 2.4 , , 0.4 , , 5.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, , 5 , , 22 , , 21 , , 15 , , 110 , , 96 , , 206 , , 82 , , 9 , , 266 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 5.0 , , 4.4 , , 9.4 , , 3.7 , , 0.4 , , 12.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, , 5 , , 21 , , 30 , , 12 , , 174 , , 113 , , 287 , , 117 , , 20 , , 317 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 8.3 , , 5.4 , , 13.7 , , 5.6 , , 1.0 , , 15.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, , 5 , , 24 , , 46 , , 21 , , 230 , , 124 , , 354 , , 166 , , 44 , , 321 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 9.6 , , 5.2 , , 14.8 , , 6.9 , , 1.8 , , 13.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, , 5 , , 20 , , 27 , , 16 , , 160 , , 114 , , 274 , , 102 , , 41 , , 377 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 8.0 , , 5.7 , , 13.7 , , 5.1 , , 2.1 , , 18.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, , 5 , , 12 , , 10 , , 5 , , 90 , , 93 , , 183 , , 71 , , 34 , , 240 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 7.5 , , 7.8 , , 15.3 , , 5.9 , , 2.8 , , 20.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, , 5 , , 18 , , 16 , , 8 , , 102 , , 129 , , 231 , , 99 , , 38 , , 424 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 5.7 , , 7.2 , , 12.8 , , 5.5 , , 2.1 , , 23.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, , 6 , , 15 , , 23 , , 12 , , 81 , , 88 , , 169 , , 69 , , 29 , , 172 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 5.4 , , 5.9 , , 11.3 , , 4.6 , , 1.9 , , 11.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 6 , , 22 , , 26 , , 20 , , 139 , , 104 , , 243 , , 104 , , 45 , , 319 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 6.3 , , 4.7 , , 11.0 , , 4.7 , , 2.0 , , 14.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, , 6 , , 22 , , 21 , , 16 , , 133 , , 163 , , 296 , , 115 , , 69 , , 417 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 6.0 , , 7.4 , , 13.5 , , 5.2 , , 3.1 , , 19.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , 6 , , 16 , , 14 , , 8 , , 73 , , 136 , , 209 , , 72 , , 52 , , 325 , , 0.9 , , 0.5 , , 4.6 , , 8.5 , , 13.1 , , 4.5 , , 3.3 , , 20.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , 6 , , 6 , , 2 , , 5 , , 28 , , 38 , , 66 , , 21 , , 21 , , 89 , , 0.3 , , 0.8 , , 4.7 , , 6.3 , , 11.0 , , 3.5 , , 3.5 , , 14.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , 6 , , 15 , , 8 , , 5 , , 40 , , 123 , , 163 , , 40 , , 54 , , 298 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 2.7 , , 8.2 , , 10.9 , , 2.7 , , 3.6 , , 19.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , 6 , , 20 , , 15 , , 9 , , 87 , , 183 , , 270 , , 73 , , 70 , , 500 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 4.4 , , 9.2 , , 13.5 , , 3.7 , , 3.5 , , 25.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 245 ! 261 ! 154 ! 1477 ! 1537 ! 3014 ! 1160 ! 531 ! 4135 ! 1.1 ! 0.6 ! 6.0 ! 6.3 ! 12.3 ! 4.7 ! 2.2 ! 16.9

Tribunal history

; ''Key:'' * PS – Pre-season competition * EF – Elimination final * QF – Qualifying final * SF – Semi-final * PF – Preliminary final * GF – Grand final

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ottens, Brad Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club premiership players Richmond Football Club players 1980 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Glenelg Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Australia international rules football team players People educated at Immanuel College, Adelaide VFL/AFL premiership players