Mark Porter (born 11 October 1976) 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 who played with Carlton and the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

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). Originally from North Eastern Victoria, Porter began his senior career as a teenager in the Ovens & King Football League, playing originally for King Valley Thirds, winning their best and fairest in 1992. In 1994, at the age of just seventeen, and while playing for King Valley seniors as a ruckman, Porter won his club best and fairest and also won the Baker Medal as the league's senior best and fairest. In 1995, Porter moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and was recruited to the VFA by the

Coburg Football Club The Coburg Football Club, nicknamed the Lions, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, Victoria, Coburg. It has been based at Coburg City Oval since 1915. Coburg's men's team currently plays in the Victor ...

. In his first season with the Lions, he won the Fothergill–Round Medal as the league's most promising young talent. Porter played two seasons for Coburg. After the 1996 season, Porter was recruited to the AFL as a rookie by the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

, which was looking for another ruckman with the emerging retirement of Justin Madden. Porter was the first player Carlton had recruited under the newly established

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 ...

. He made his AFL debut late in the 1997 season after Madden's mid-year retirement, and got regular games in 1998 as the second ruckman to

Matthew Allan Matthew Allan (born 26 February 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. He joined with the Carlton Football Club in 1992, and debuted in 1994 as the 1000th player to represent Carlton. He played as a ...

. Porter suffered a knee injury in a practice match prior to the

1999 AFL season The 1999 AFL season was the 103rd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured six ...

, which saw him miss the entire season. He returned to the team in late 2000 and took part in their finals campaign. In 2001 he was a regular selection as Carlton's first choice ruckman, due to an injury to Allan, and he performed admirably, finishing seventh in the league for hit-outs with 381. After 2001, Carlton sought to improve its forward-line, and Porter was traded to the

along with first and second round draft picks (#14 and #30 overall), in exchange for key forward

Corey McKernan Corey McKernan (born 19 December 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Kangaroos and Carlton Blues in the Australian Football League (AFL). A dual Premiership player, a one-time All-Australian at Nort ...

and second and third round draft picks (#23 and #39 overall). Porter played all but two games in 2002, alternating with Matthew Burton in the ruck and added another 19 games in 2003. Porter was delisted by the Kangaroos at the end of the 2004 season. In 2005, Porter played with North Ballarat in the VFL. In 2006 he moved back to northern Victoria, and played for

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

in the Goulburn Valley Football Netball League., playing there until 2007, before retiring.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Mark 1976 births Carlton Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players Coburg Football Club players North Ballarat Football Club players Benalla Football Club players Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)