Daniel Merrett (born 12 December 1984) 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

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 ...

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

Merrett was born in

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 ...

, but moved to the Gold Coast with his family at a young age. A talented schoolboy

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player for

Benowa State High School Benowa State High School (BSHS) is a state, co-educational school in the suburb of Benowa (Queensland, Australia) in the Gold Coast. The school is located in the land of the Kombumerri people, within the wider Bujalung language nation, reco ...

, he was identified as a potential Australian rules footballer by

AFL Queensland AFL Queensland Limited (AFLQ) is the governing body of Australian rules football in Queensland formed in 2000 and based at Leyshon Park in the Brisbane suburb of Yeronga. AFL Queensland has over 216,000 participants (including Northern River ...

junior development scouts due to his imposing frame and ball-handling skills, and was groomed as a key forward with the Surfers Paradise Demons and later

Southport Sharks The Southport Australian Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, that competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Southport is one of the most successful football clu ...

. He was recruited by the

with the number 30 draft pick in the 2002 AFL Draft but took several years to develop sufficiently to make his debut.

AFL career

Merrett made his AFL debut in Round 2, 2005 against

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 ...

. In August 2016, he announced he would retire from the AFL at the end of the season. He has been an assistant coach of the Lions'

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

team since the inaugural season in 2017, and coached a game against in round three of the 2020 season when regular head coach

Craig Starcevich Craig Starcevich (born 16 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer and current senior coach. Starcevich played for and the in the Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) prior to 1990. He is the ...

was hospitalised. The game ended in a draw.

Positions

Daniel Merrett used to play as a full forward, centre half forward or half forward flank in his early career but eventually regularly played as a fullback. He was the defender with the most spoils in the 2007 season.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, , 21 , , 15 , , 13 , , 9 , , 48 , , 43 , , 91 , , 40 , , 19 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 3.2 , , 2.9 , , 6.1 , , 2.7 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 21 , , 9 , , 3 , , 3 , , 28 , , 31 , , 59 , , 25 , , 18 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 3.1 , , 3.4 , , 6.6 , , 2.8 , , 2.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , 21 , , 22 , , 0 , , 0 , , 110 , , 90 , , 200 , , 89 , , 27 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.0 , , 4.1 , , 9.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.2 , - ! 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 ...

, , 21 , , 22 , , 0 , , 0 , , 101 , , 102 , , 203 , , 83 , , 28 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.6 , , 4.6 , , 9.2 , , 3.8 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, , 21 , , 19 , , 1 , , 0 , , 100 , , 115 , , 215 , , 82 , , 26 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 5.3 , , 6.1 , , 11.3 , , 4.3 , , 1.4 , - ! 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 ...

, , 21 , , 16 , , 0 , , 0 , , 93 , , 84 , , 177 , , 78 , , 40 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 5.3 , , 11.1 , , 4.9 , , 2.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, , 21 , , 10 , , 0 , , 0 , , 88 , , 57 , , 145 , , 54 , , 22 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.8 , , 5.7 , , 14.5 , , 5.4 , , 2.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , 21 , , 22 , , 26 , , 13 , , 191 , , 100 , , 291 , , 113 , , 63 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 8.7 , , 4.5 , , 13.2 , , 5.1 , , 2.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 21 , , 17 , , 14 , , 8 , , 131 , , 78 , , 209 , , 84 , , 28 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 7.7 , , 4.6 , , 12.3 , , 4.9 , , 1.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , 21 , , 19 , , 12 , , 8 , , 105 , , 78 , , 183 , , 71 , , 24 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 5.5 , , 4.1 , , 9.6 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 21 , , 10 , , 0 , , 0 , , 69 , , 42 , , 111 , , 52 , , 9 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.9 , , 4.2 , , 11.1 , , 5.2 , , 0.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 21 , , 19 , , 1 , , 0 , , 96 , , 76 , , 172 , , 57 , , 32 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 5.1 , , 4.0 , , 9.1 , , 3.0 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 200 ! 70 ! 41 ! 1160 ! 896 ! 2056 ! 828 ! 336 ! 0.4 ! 0.2 ! 5.8 ! 4.5 ! 10.3 ! 4.1 ! 1.7

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrett, Daniel 1984 births Brisbane Lions players Southport Australian Football Club players Australian rules footballers from the Gold Coast, Queensland Australian rules footballers from Adelaide Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen