Chris Bryan (born 6 March 1982) is a former sportsman who played both

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 ...

and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

professionally. Bryan played 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) from 2005 until 2009, and then in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) as a punter in 2010 and 2011.

Australian Football League

Bryan is the great-grandson of dual premiership player, Ernie "Snowy" Lumsden, who played 78 games for Collingwood from 1910 to 1920. Bryan's great uncle was Collingwood legend

Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Lee was awarded the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle arts award, for music in 2005. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan fathe ...

. Bryan unsuccessfully trialled for the Collingwood rookie list in 2000 and spent the next 4 seasons playing in the VFL.

Carlton

As a mature-aged recruit, Bryan was drafted in the sixth round (no.73 overall) by Carlton in the 2004 AFL Draft. Drafted as a 22 years old, Bryan was given a chance after showing enough at VFL level for both Sandringham and Frankston. He made his debut for Carlton in Round 11, 2005 against

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and showed an immediate sign he was an aggressive and mobile ruckman, having 20 disposals and 17 hitouts. He played the next 11 games, before being omitted for the last round of 2005. In round 21 he amazingly had zero disposals, but managed a career high 20 hitouts. Bryan struggled in the 2006 season, as Dylan McLaren was recruited to fill the secondary ruck position behind Barnaby French. Bryan played only five games, all towards the end of the season, was dropped to the VFL reserves for the finals. Bryan was delisted by Carlton after two seasons. During his time at Carlton, Bryan was noted for his long, left-foot kicking, and he often assumed responsibility for kick-ins. In response to this, Carlton fans would always chant "woof!" whenever Bryan kicked the ball; Bryan was the third Carlton player to receive the traditional chant, after Val Perovic in the 1980s and Ang Christou in the 1990s.

Collingwood

In 2007, Bryan nominated for the pre-season draft, and was selected by Collingwood with their 8th pick. Bryan made his debut for the Magpies in Collingwood's annual clash against Essendon on

Anzac Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

. A week later he played his best game in his short career, having 15 touches, 9 marks and kicking 3 goals at AAMI Stadium against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Bryan was called up for an injured Josh Fraser in a semi-final against West Coast in

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 ...

, a famous game that saw Bryan kick a vital goal in extra time. Bryan played the following game in the preliminary final, 5-point loss, against eventual 2007 premiers

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 ...

. Bryan managed 12 games in his first season with his new club. In 2008, Bryan played a further 17 games, including an elimination final against Adelaide and a semi-final against St Kilda. Bryan played in round one of the 2009 season, his last game at AFL level. Bryan played the remainder of 2009 in the VFL and was de-listed by the Magpies at the conclusion of the season. In late October, Bryan was invited to train with Hawthorn in the hope that he might be drafted by the club who at the time were in need of a ruck. However, Bryan was not drafted.

Statistics

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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National Football League

Green Bay Packers

In February 2010, after training with Nathan Chapman and John Smith of ProKick Australia, it was revealed Bryan was close to signing a deal with one of a number of NFL teams in the United States as a punter. On 16 March, Bryan was signed to a three-year contract by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. After participating in the Green Bay rookie mini-camp, OTA's (Organised team activities) and the pre-season, Bryan was released by the team on 4 September.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On 6 September 2010, the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

signed Bryan to a three-year contract and waived rookie punter Brent Bowden. On 12 September, Bryan played his first regular-season NFL game against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

, in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. The next day, he was waived by the Buccaneers and replaced by Robert Malone.

New York Jets

On 29 July 2011, Bryan was signed by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

on 29 July 2011 to compete with incumbent

T. J. Conley Timothy Joseph Conley Jr. (born August 29, 1985) is an American former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Idaho Vandals and was signed as an undrafted free age ...

. He was waived on 30 August.

Post-career

Bryan returned to Melbourne and to Australian rules football in 2012, and was signed as senior playing coach of the Keysborough Football Club, where he had played his junior football, in the Casey-Cardinia division of the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He switched to the Peninsula Division's Bonbeach Football Club as a playing assistant coach in 2015.

References

External links

*
NFL statistics at nfl.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Chris 1982 births Australian rules footballers that played in the NFL Living people Carlton Football Club players Collingwood Football Club players Frankston Football Club players American football punters Tampa Bay Buccaneers players New York Jets players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers who switched code Australian players of American football Players of American football from Melbourne Green Bay Packers players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 21st-century Australian sportsmen