Michael Hurley (born 1 June 1990) 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

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 attended Viewbank College and was recruited by the Essendon Football Club with the fifth overall selection in the 2008 national draft.

AFL career

Hurley showed tremendous form throughout the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

, showing his all-round quality for the Northern Knights. He was named All-Australian in 2007 and backed it up with another selection after the 2008 AFL Under 18 Championships and was also selected in the TAC Cup Team of the Year in both seasons. He made his debut against the Port Adelaide Power in round 1,

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 ...

, and was nominated twice as the AFL Rising Star nominee, in round 20 of that season, and round 18 the following year, both times against . After his match-winning four goal performance against Hawthorn in round 22, 2009,

Leigh Matthews Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn Football Club, Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (1897–1989), Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the ...

said, "Very few young talls have the physical maturity to match it with their older and stronger opponents, which is why the brilliant early form of young Bomber Michael Hurley is quite amazing." Ahead of the 2010 season, Hurley inherited the famous number 18 guernsey from retired club great Matthew Lloyd. The following four seasons saw Hurley's form fluctuate due to injury and the constant shuffling of his position in the team between both ends of the ground. He averaged 22 goals per season, and spent just as much time playing in the back line on some of the opposition's best key forwards, where his precise kicking and attacking flair out of the back half were noticeable on numerous occasions. The 2014 season brought with it a permanent role for Hurley as a key defender, the position for which he was initially drafted. This newfound positional consistency allowed him to really begin to shine as a footballer. He played a career-high 21 games during the season and averaged 19 disposals, six marks and three rebound 50s for the year. Despite Essendon's poor performances in the 2015 season, Michael averaged 21 disposals, seven marks and six rebound 50s over 19 matches. He was awarded with his first

All-Australian 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 ...

selection, and finished runner-up in the W.S. Crichton Medal. Hurley, along with 33 other Essendon players, was found guilty of using a banned performance-enhancing substance, thymosin beta-4, as part of Essendon's sports supplements program during the 2012 season. He and his teammates were initially found not guilty in March 2015 by the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal, but a guilty verdict was returned in January 2016 after an appeal by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

. He was suspended for two years which, with backdating, ended in November 2016; as a result, he served approximately fourteen months of his suspension and missed the entire

2016 AFL season The 2016 AFL season was the 120th 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 eig ...

. During his suspension, he signed a five-year contract extension to stay with Essendon until the end of 2022. In 2017, he was named in the All-Australian Team. Prior to the 2021 AFL season, Hurley contracted an infection in his hip. The infection became life-threatening, leaving him bedridden for a month, during which he lost 10kg, and afterwards, had to learn to walk again. He went through multiple stints in hospital, and underwent a hip replacement, missing the entire 2021 season. He was eventually able to return to the VFL late in the season, playing 5 games, before announcing his retirement ahead of Round 23, 2022, playing a farewell game against Richmond and kicking a goal.

Personal life

On 25 September 2009, Hurley was arrested after a drunken altercation with a taxi driver, after the driver demanded payment for the fare when Hurley asked him to stop at a fast food drivethrough. Hurley was later charged with multiple counts of assault; it is alleged that he punched the driver and kicked him in the groin. Hurley is an ambassador for the MAD Foundation, an Australian health charity supporting young people with disability.

Statistics

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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 ...

, , , 18 , , 19 , , 12 , , 7 , , 176 , , 132 , , 308 , , 98 , , 17 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 9.3 , , 7.0 , , 16.2 , , 5.2 , , 0.9 , - 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 ...

, , , 18 , , 18 , , 27 , , 22 , , 161 , , 99 , , 260 , , 94 , , 24 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 8.9 , , 5.5 , , 14.4 , , 5.2 , , 1.3 , - ! 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 ...

, , , 18 , , 16 , , 26 , , 21 , , 132 , , 87 , , 219 , , 84 , , 13 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 8.2 , , 5.4 , , 13.7 , , 5.2 , , 0.8 , - 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 ...

, , , 18 , , 16 , , 24 , , 16 , , 129 , , 74 , , 203 , , 81 , , 7 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 8.1 , , 4.6 , , 12.7 , , 5.1 , , 0.4 , - ! 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 ...

, , , 18 , , 21 , , 4 , , 1 , , 258 , , 152 , , 410 , , 128 , , 26 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 12.3 , , 7.2 , , 19.5 , , 6.1 , , 1.2 , - 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 ...

, , , 18 , , 19 , , 2 , , 4 , , 301 , , 104 , , 405 , , 131 , , 20 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 15.8 , , 5.5 , , 21.3 , , 6.9 , , 1.1 , - ! 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 ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , 18 , , 21 , , 3 , , 1 , , 355 , , 161 , , 537 , , 161 , , 22 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 16.9 , , 8.7 , , 25.6 , , 7.7 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , 18 , , 20 , , 0 , , 0 , , 293 , , 141 , , 434 , , 156 , , 15 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 14.7 , , 7.1 , , 21.7 , , 7.8 , , 0.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , 18 , , 19 , , 0 , , 0 , , 272 , , 96 , , 368 , , 151 , , 9 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 14.3 , , 5.1 , , 19.4 , , 7.9 , , 0.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, , , 18 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 154 , , 66 , , 220 , , 86 , , 5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.0 , , 4.7 , , 15.7 , , 6.1 , , 0.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

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 ...

, , , 18 , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , , 5 , , 1 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 194 ! 109 ! 77 ! 2319 ! 1195 ! 3514 ! 1234 ! 173 ! 0.6 ! 0.4 ! 12.0 ! 6.2 ! 18.2 ! 6.4 ! 0.9 Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurley, Michael 1990 births Living people Essendon Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Northern Knights players All-Australians (AFL) Doping cases in Australian rules football Bendigo Football Club players Australian people convicted of assault 21st-century Australian sportsmen