Lachlan Ash (born 21 June 2001) is an

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

who plays for the

Greater Western Sydney Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS or Giants) are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney Olympic Park which repres ...

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 was recruited by the

with the 4th draft pick in the

2019 AFL draft The 2019 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2019 AFL season. Key dates Mid-season rookie draft The first mid ...

Early football

Ash was born in Katandra, Victoria where he participated in the

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian football to children aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective program. It has incre ...

program. He played junior football in

Katandra Football Club The Katandra Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Kats'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the small Victoria, Australia, Victorian town of Katandra West, Victoria, Katandra West. The club teams currently compete in th ...

and senior football at the Shepparton Football Club. Ash represented Vic Country at the

AFL Under 18 Championships The AFL National Championships is an annual Australian national underage representative Australian rules football tournament. Since taking over as national governing body in 1995, the AFL has gradually restructured the competition into a primar ...

for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He also played for the

Murray Bushrangers The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the Talent League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval, Wangaratta. The Under 1 ...

for two seasons in the

NAB League The Talent League (also known as the Coates Hire, Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the National Australia Bank, NAB League and Transport Accident Commission, TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representa ...

AFL career

Ash debuted in the Giants' twenty-four point loss against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in the third round of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th 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 featur ...

. Ash collected seven disposals and three marks. Ash took home the club's Rising Star award at the conclusion of the season, and had a career-best game in his team's 39 point loss to rivals in the 6th round 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 ...

, where he collected 35 disposals and 15 marks to be one of the ' best on ground that game. In

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 ...

, Ash adopted a new role under coach Adam Kingsley as a lethal running defender which resulted in a two-year contract extension. He played a career-best 26 games that season as the Giants made a deep run into the finals series. Running out of the defensive 50 alongside

Lachie Whitfield Lachlan Whitfield (born 18 July 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first overall selection in the 2012 AFL draft. Early years He ...

, Ash began to epitomise Kingsley's "Orange Tsunami" game style.

Statistics

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

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , , , 7 , 12 , , 1 , , 0 , , 79 , , 57 , , 136 , , 31 , , 22 , , 0.1 , , 0 , , 6.6 , , 4.8 , , 11.3 , , 3.6 , , 2.9 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 7 , 23 , , 1 , , 1 , , 265 , , 127 , , 392 , , 111 , , 63 , , 0.04 , , 0.04 , , 11.5 , , 5.5 , , 17.0 , , 4.8 , , 2.7 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 7 , 21 , , 2 , , 7 , , 206 , , 132 , , 338 , , 97 , , 54 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 9.8 , , 6.3 , , 16.1 , , 4.6 , , 2.6 , - ,

, , , , 7 , 26 , , 2 , , 1 , , 403 , , 220 , , 623 , , 140 , , 40 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 15.5 , , 8.5 , , 24.0 , , 5.4 , , 1.5 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 7 , 19 , , 1 , , 1 , , 243 , , 143 , , 386 , , 101 , , 33 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 12.8 , , 7.5 , , 20.3 , , 5.3 , , 1.7 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 101 !! 7 !! 10 !! 1196 !! 679 !! 1875 !! 480 !! 212 !! 0.1 !! 0.1 !! 11.8 !! 6.7 !! 18.6 !! 4.8 !! 2.1

References

External links

* * * 2001 births Living people Greater Western Sydney Giants players Murray Bushrangers players Shepparton Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Shepparton {{AFL-bio-2000s-stub