Josh Thurgood (born 5 June 1985) is a former

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 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 ...

. Drafted onto the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

's Rookie List for the 2004 season, Thurgood suffered a serious knee injury in Round 2 of the VFL season playing for the

Box Hill Hawks The Box Hill Hawks Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill, currently competing in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VFLW). Since 2000, Box Hill has had a reserves a ...

. In 2005, he was elevated from the

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. Category B rookie-listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unle ...

by the Hawks for the 2005 season and made his AFL debut in Round 1 of that year. Noted for his exceptional courageHawks head for treatment room after clash with Bombers

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, 11 April 2005. and attack on the ball, Thurgood mainly played in defence for the Hawks. His weaknesses were considered to be his slight frame, weighing just 70 kilograms. Thurgood was also a cult figure for his appearance, which consisted of a thin build and red

dreadlocks Dreadlocks, also known as dreads or locs, are a Hairstyle, hairstyle made of rope-like strands of matted hair. Dreadlocks can form naturally in Hair#Texture, very curly hair, or they can be created with techniques like twisting, Backcombing, ba ...

. His nicknames around the club included "Red Baron", "Scarecrow", " Otzi" and "

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", which are all borne of his appearance and added to his cult status. In his third game in the AFL, Round 3 of 2005 against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

, Thurgood suffered injuries after

Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...

, in his return from a forearm injury, made flush contact with Thurgood's face. This led to controversy since Lloyd was wearing a forearm guard that may have increased the impact of the collision. Lloyd was later cleared by the AFL Match Review Panel of any wrongdoing as the forearm guard was approved by the AFL prior to Lloyd wearing it.Lloyd in the clear over Thurgood clash
, Sportal.com.au, 11 April 2005. Thurgood returned to the side two weeks later after undergoing surgery for a depressed fracture of the

cheekbone In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (from ), also called cheekbone or malar bone, is a paired irregular bone, situated at the upper and lateral part of the face and forming part of the lateral wall and floor of the orbit (anatomy), orbit, of t ...

, missing only one match from the injury. His stint in the side was brief, and he was dropped after Round 7 before returning for a one-off game in Round 13. He suffered a hamstring injury before Hawthorn's Round 15 clash. He returned to Box Hill and returned to the Hawthorn line up in Round 21, stringing together the last two games of the season. In 2006, Thurgood had shoulder surgery during the pre-season. He recovered to return to the side in Round 10, but played just two games for the season (the other one being in Round 11). He struggled for form and was delisted at the end of the year. However, he was redrafted by Hawthorn in the 2007 Pre-season draft. He played two more games in 2007, but was delisted again at the end of the year. He never played in a win for Hawthorn after finishing his career with 0 wins and 13 losses. After being delisted by Hawthorn, Thurgood signed for the

Port Adelaide Magpies Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) for the 2008 season. Thurgood's great-great uncle is former Essendon champion

Albert Thurgood Albert John Thurgood (11 January 1874 – 8 May 1927) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Western Australian Football Association (WAFA). He is considered one ...

References

External links

Josh Thurgood profile on Port Adelaide Magpies official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurgood, Josh 1985 births Living people Hawthorn Football Club players Port Adelaide Magpies players Box Hill Football Club players Greater Western Victoria Rebels players Hamilton Imperials Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 21st-century Australian sportsmen