Dustin Andrew Fletcher (born 7 May 1975) 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 his entire 23-season career for the

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 ...

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). He is widely acknowledged as one of the finest defenders in the history of the league.

AFL career

Fletcher was recruited by the

in the 1992 National Draft. He played his first senior game against Carlton in his senior year of high school at

Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (abbreviated as PEGS) is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Comprehensive School#Australia, comprehensive Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school ...

. Right from the get-go, Fletcher proved to be a highly impactful player. At 18 years old, he won a Longest Kick competition, a highly desirable trait that would serve him well for the next 22 years. He was a key member of the 1993 premiership team in his first AFL season, a team which is often referred to as the " Baby Bombers". Fletcher also played in the 2000 premiership team, a year in which he also won the Crichton Medal as Essendon's best and fairest and was selected in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, 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-perfo ...

Noted for his longevity in the game, Fletcher played a total of 400 senior VFL/AFL games, which stands as the fifth-highest number of games by any player as of 2023. His AFL career length of 22 years and 58 days is an all-time league record (edging out Vic Cumberland, whose former record was five days shy of 22 years). Fletcher played his 400th game in Round 9, 2015, becoming the third player in VFL/AFL history to reach the milestone (after Michael Tuck and Kevin Bartlett); it would end up being his final game, as he was unable to recover from a groin injury sustained during the match. He holds the outright Essendon games record, having overtaken the previous record of 378 games held by Simon Madden in Round 1,

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 ...

. He is the second-oldest player to play a VFL/AFL game, aged 40 years and 23 days at the time of his final game, behind only the aforementioned Vic Cumberland (who played the 1920 season at the age of 43). With his father, Ken, the Fletchers hold the record for the most VFL/AFL career games played by a father and son, with 664 games between them. On 12 January 2016, during the summer after his retirement, Fletcher was named as one of 34 past and present Essendon players found guilty over their use of illegal supplements during the 2012 AFL season. As a result, Fletcher was suspended from playing at all levels for 24 months, which with backdating and provisional suspension served resulted in suspension until November 2016. However, Fletcher had already retired the previous year, so the suspension was moot. After serving his suspension, Fletcher returned in 2017 to play suburban football for Essendon Doutta Stars.

Kicking style

Fletcher's execution of the torpedo punt was often used as a set-play clearing strategy by coach Kevin Sheedy. In a game in 2007, he kicked a torpedo punt goal from more than 70 metres. According to ''The Sunday Age'', it was the fifth-longest kick in the history of the VFL/AFL.

International rules series

Fletcher served as the Australia international rules football team's goalkeeper for five series: the 2005 series, the 2006 series, the 2010 series, the 2014 series, and the 2015 series. Along with Barry Hall, Fletcher was one of Australia's co-captains for the 2006 series. He is regarded as Australia's greatest keeper throughout the series. He retired from top-level football with a final International Rules match, at the 2015 series in Ireland.

Personal life

Dustin's son Mason is the former punter for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats in

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 ...

. Dustin's son Max is the current punter for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and formerly played at the University of Arkansas. In Mason's freshman (first) season in

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 ...

, the Bearcats became the first-ever team from a Group of Five conference to reach the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

. Mason's sophomore season in

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 ...

, the Bearcats' last before joining the Power Five

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

, saw him named the special teams player of the year in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

Statistics

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1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

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1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 13 , , 2 , , 0 , , 76 , , 41 , , 117 , , 27 , , 10 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 3.2 , , 9.0 , , 2.1 , , 0.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 22 , , 4 , , 3 , , 199 , , 101 , , 300 , , 94 , , 23 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 9.0 , , 4.6 , , 13.6 , , 4.3 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 23 , , 16 , , 10 , , 235 , , 52 , , 287 , , 105 , , 16 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 10.2 , , 2.3 , , 12.5 , , 4.6 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 16 , , 9 , , 2 , , 175 , , 62 , , 237 , , 76 , , 14 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 10.9 , , 3.9 , , 14.8 , , 4.8 , , 0.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 18 , , 4 , , 2 , , 186 , , 39 , , 225 , , 57 , , 16 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.3 , , 2.2 , , 12.5 , , 3.2 , , 0.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 19 , , 3 , , 8 , , 198 , , 51 , , 249 , , 74 , , 18 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 10.4 , , 2.7 , , 13.1 , , 3.9 , , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

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 ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 23 , , 14 , , 6 , , 276 , , 81 , , 357 , , 93 , , 26 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 12.0 , , 3.5 , , 15.5 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 21 , , 4 , , 4 , , 239 , , 62 , , 301 , , 78 , , 18 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 11.4 , , 3.0 , , 14.3 , , 3.7 , , 0.9 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 18 , , 3 , , 2 , , 202 , , 44 , , 246 , , 51 , , 30 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 11.2 , , 2.4 , , 13.7 , , 2.8 , , 1.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 145 , , 34 , , 179 , , 44 , , 14 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 10.4 , , 2.4 , , 12.8 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , - ! 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;", , 31 , , 20 , , 1 , , 3 , , 220 , , 42 , , 262 , , 70 , , 28 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 11.0 , , 2.1 , , 13.1 , , 3.5 , , 1.4 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 17 , , 0 , , 0 , , 226 , , 37 , , 263 , , 70 , , 13 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 13.3 , , 2.2 , , 15.5 , , 4.1 , , 0.8 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 16 , , 0 , , 0 , , 211 , , 67 , , 278 , , 98 , , 12 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 13.2 , , 4.2 , , 17.4 , , 6.1 , , 0.8 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 19 , , 3 , , 2 , , 309 , , 85 , , 394 , , 144 , , 30 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 16.3 , , 4.5 , , 20.7 , , 7.6 , , 1.6 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 18 , , 2 , , 3 , , 198 , , 84 , , 282 , , 96 , , 18 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 11.0 , , 4.7 , , 15.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 18 , , 1 , , 1 , , 218 , , 102 , , 320 , , 86 , , 30 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 12.1 , , 5.7 , , 17.8 , , 4.8 , , 1.7 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 16 , , 1 , , 1 , , 216 , , 75 , , 291 , , 79 , , 28 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 13.5 , , 4.7 , , 18.2 , , 4.9 , , 1.8 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 19 , , 1 , , 0 , , 213 , , 76 , , 289 , , 77 , , 32 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.2 , , 4.0 , , 15.2 , , 4.0 , , 1.7 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 18 , , 1 , , 2 , , 244 , , 45 , , 289 , , 88 , , 20 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 13.6 , , 2.5 , , 16.1 , , 4.9 , , 1.1 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 13 , , 0 , , 0 , , 151 , , 47 , , 198 , , 63 , , 14 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.6 , , 3.6 , , 15.2 , , 4.8 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 15 , , 1 , , 0 , , 198 , , 81 , , 279 , , 103 , , 11 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 13.2 , , 5.4 , , 18.6 , , 6.9 , , 0.7 , - style="background-color: #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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 31 , , 7 , , 1 , , 1 , , 80 , , 36 , , 116 , , 35 , , 6 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 11.4 , , 5.1 , , 16.6 , , 5.0 , , 0.9 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 400 ! 71 ! 50 ! 4543 ! 1389 ! 5932 ! 1751 ! 451 ! 0.2 ! 0.1 ! 11.4 ! 3.5 ! 14.8 ! 4.4 ! 1.1

Honours and achievements

*Team **

AFL premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

: 1993, 2000 ** AFL pre-season premiership: 1994, 2000 **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

: 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001 *Individual **

: 2000, 2007 ** Crichton Medal: 2000 ** AFL Rising Star Nominee: 1993 **

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 ...

Player: 2005, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2015

Footnotes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Dustin Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club premiership players 1975 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Crichton Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Western Jets players Australian sportspeople in doping cases Australia international rules football team players People educated at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School VFL/AFL premiership players