Chad Fletcher (born 30 August 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for 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 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Footbal ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also played for the

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the W ...

and the

Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) 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 from March to September ...

(WAFL). From

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia, Fletcher was recruited by West Coast in the 1998 Rookie Draft, and made his debut for the club in 1999. Having represented Australia in the 2003

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, he was subsequently named in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led by ...

in 2004. Fletcher played in West Coast's 2006 premiership victory over , and retired at the end of the 2009 season after a total of 179 games for the club.

Football career

Early career

Fletcher began his professional football career in the

with Subiaco, and was elevated from the West Coast

rookie list The rookie list is a means for Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to maintain additional players outside the 38-man primary or senior list. Rookie listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unless they are ...

in 1998. He made his AFL debut in 1999, but did not make his mark on the league until 2002.

Career rise

Fletcher was 4th in the West Coast Best & Fairest voting in 2002 before he improved to 3rd in 2003 and 2nd in 2004. In 2003, Fletcher was selected to play for Australia in the

International Rules International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was develop ...

series against

, and in 2004 he was named to the interchange bench of his first

. Fletcher was one of the most prolific ballwinners in the AFL, and played in the West Coast midfield with

Daniel Kerr Daniel Alan Kerr (born 16 May 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played 220 games for the club between 2001 and 2013, as a hard-running inside midfie ...

. Chad Fletcher was sometimes forgotten in West Coast's incredible midfield but did show he was very skillful. Fletcher is also remembered for running into a fence while practicing a training drill blindfolded in 2005, an initiative by coach

John Worsfold John Richard Worsfold (born 25 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football coach and player. He was the senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) between October 2015 and September 2020. He ...

. He was not injured.

2006 season

Fletcher was also known as a "prolific" ballwinner who could accumulate many possessions in a game. However 2006 saw him considered one of the least accurate kicks in the league, costing the Eagles many turnovers. He was ranked 1st in clangers per game at West Coast in 2006.

Retirement from AFL

Fletcher was told that he was not needed in 2010 and beyond, playing his last AFL game in round 22, 2009 against

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

.Horn, Johnathon. (24 August 2010
"Fletcher nabbed in drugs bust"
. Sportal. Retrieved 24 August 2010. Fletcher spent the 2010 season playing for the Balmain Dockers in the

Sydney Football League AFL Sydney is an Australian rules football League, based in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. The AFL Sydney competition comprises 126 teams from 22 clubs which play across seven senior men's divisions, five women's divisions, a Master's Divis ...

, but retired after the Dockers did not make finals.

Personal life

During West Coast's 2006 end of year holiday in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

, Fletcher had overdosed on drugs and had a brush with death after reportedly choking on his own vomit. Fletcher was rushed to hospital and had to be revived after he stopped breathing. His case was so serious he spent four days in a hospital and flew straight back to

after checking out. In August 2010, Fletcher was arrested and later pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, outside the Kings Cross nightclub Hugo's. Fletcher escaped conviction and was placed on a nine-month good behaviour bond. In 2014, Fletcher lost his license and was fined $1600 for drink-driving. He was recorded as having a .08 blood alcohol level at the time.

Statistics

:Chad Fletcher's player profile at AFL Tables
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1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 41 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 1 , , 1 , , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 41 , , 17 , , 11 , , 6 , , 181 , , 90 , , 271 , , 48 , , 23 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 10.6 , , 5.3 , , 15.9 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 20 , , 8 , , 7 , , 253 , , 126 , , 379 , , 81 , , 45 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 12.7 , , 6.3 , , 19.0 , , 4.1 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 18 , , 10 , , 4 , , 212 , , 125 , , 337 , , 72 , , 49 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 11.8 , , 6.9 , , 18.7 , , 4.0 , , 2.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 20 , , 10 , , 9 , , 290 , , 163 , , 453 , , 71 , , 61 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 14.5 , , 8.2 , , 22.7 , , 3.6 , , 3.1 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 7 , , 13 , , 277 , , 281 , , 558 , , 98 , , 70 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 12.6 , , 12.8 , , 25.4 , , 4.5 , , 3.2 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 25 , , 17 , , 13 , , 355 , , 234 , , 589 , , 133 , , 46 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 14.2 , , 9.4 , , 23.6 , , 5.3 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 5 , , 12 , , 308 , , 235 , , 543 , , 116 , , 59 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 12.8 , , 9.8 , , 22.6 , , 4.8 , , 2.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 10 , , 3 , , 1 , , 129 , , 106 , , 235 , , 52 , , 33 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 12.9 , , 10.6 , , 23.5 , , 5.2 , , 3.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 17 , , 3 , , 1 , , 176 , , 213 , , 389 , , 77 , , 39 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.4 , , 12.5 , , 22.9 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2 , , 56 , , 60 , , 116 , , 30 , , 7 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 11.2 , , 12.0 , , 23.2 , , 6.0 , , 1.4 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 179 ! 74 ! 68 ! 2238 ! 1634 ! 3872 ! 779 ! 432 ! 0.4 ! 0.4 ! 12.5 ! 9.1 ! 21.6 ! 4.4 ! 2.4

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Chad 1979 births All-Australians (AFL) Claremont Football Club players Living people Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Subiaco Football Club players West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles Premiership players Balmain Australian Football Club players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players