Charlie Comben 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 plays for

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

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

Comben's junior football was hindered by a series of injuries. At age 15, Comben played only 8 games before breaking his wrist. On return later in the season, he broke his collarbone. At age 16, Comben broke his inner cheekbone in three places, requiring surgery to repair. This injury sidelined him for over half the season. In 2018, Comben fell awkwardly while playing high school basketball, breaking his tibia and fracturing and dislocating his knee cap. On return, he dislocated his knee cap again, requiring surgery. Nevertheless, he continued to play, and returned again in 2019. Comben's improved efforts under

Vic Country The Victoria Australian rules football team, known colloquially as the Big V, is the state representative side of Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, in the sport of Australian rules football. The Big V has a proud history, dominating th ...

coach

Leigh Brown Leigh Brown (born 23 February 1982) is a former Australian rules football player who played for Fremantle, North Melbourne and finally Collingwood in the Australian Football League. He is a Collingwood premiership player. After the 2011 Gran ...

at U18 level earned him the nickname "Mr. Upside" from AFL recruiters. He showed talent and athleticism for a key position player, and an ability to play effectively as a ruck and a key forward.

AFL career

Comben was recruited by the

with the 31st pick in the 2019 National Draft. His injury woes continued into his AFL career, as in early 2020 he suffered a small back fracture which interrupted his first season. On return in January 2021, he was again sidelined by a tibial stress fracture requiring surgery. Upon recovering, he played a scratch match with a combined North Melbourne-Essendon reserves side against the Brisbane Lions reserves, his first game in 18 months. Comben kicked 4 goals in only a half, playing limited minutes to manage his return. Comben made his debut against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

in Round 22 of the

2021 AFL season The 2021 AFL season was the 125th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

. He kicked his first goal after the final siren to cut North's losing margin to 14 points. Unfortunately, Comben then broke his collarbone the following week in an incident at training, missing the final game of North's season. Comben returned to the field in 2022 through the VFL, kicking 3 goals against Sandringham in Round 10. After complications caused by surgery the prior year of his tibial stress injury, he eventually returned to North's senior side in Round 23, as a late inclusion for

Callum Coleman-Jones Callum Coleman-Jones (born 13 June 1999) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by with the 20th pick in the 2017 AFL draft#2017 natio ...

. Comben played the first seven games of the 2023 AFL season for North, before suffering a serious ankle injury in a match against Melbourne, which sidelined him for much of remainder of the season. While injured, Comben joined the 200 Plus podcast with

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

sports journalist Nick Butler and

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 ...

player

Sam Draper Sam Draper (born 28 September 1998) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited with the 1st draft pick in the 2017 AFL rookie draft. Early life Draper w ...

as a guest host before hosting full time in 2024. Comben had a breakout season in 2024, becoming one of the league’s premier intercept markers. He is currently contracted to North Melbourne until the end of the 2027 season.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to end of 2024'' , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Comben, Charlie 2001 births Living people North Melbourne Football Club players Gippsland Power players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian sports podcasters 21st-century Australian sportsmen