Nathan Bock (born 20 March 1983) 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 ...

(AFL). He played for the Adelaide Football Club between 2002 and 2010, and joined the new Gold Coast Football Club in 2011.Nathan Bock confirms Gold Coast move
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Adelaide career

Bock was elevated off the Adelaide Football Club's rookie list at the start of the 2003 season after being drafted with selection 25 in the 2002 Rookie Draft from Woodville-West Torrens 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). Debuting with the Adelaide Football Club in 2004 as a 21-year-old, he did well in Adelaide's forward line. On his debut (Round 5 April 23, 2004) he goaled with each of his first two kicks, and he had 94 disposals and kicked 8 goals in his first ten games. Since then, under the coaching of Neil Craig, he has been transformed into a tough centre half-back. Bock missed the first 7 rounds of the 2005 season, but returned in round 8 and showed signs that he and

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 ...

defender Ben Rutten would become one of the best defensive combinations in the AFL, a promise the duo delivered on in the next few years. Bock has not lost his forward origin, either; he kicked two goals from tight angles in the third quarter against

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

in the 2006 Qualifying Final as Adelaide came from behind to win, and replicated the feat late in the Preliminary Final against West Coast, this time unsuccessfully. In Brad Johnson's 300th game for 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 round 1, 2008, with Adelaide trailing by four points with only seconds remaining, Bock took a mark in the left forward pocket, about 45 metres out from goal and on a 45-degree angle. Bock missed the shot as the siren sounded and Adelaide lost the game. However, Bock recovered from this to have a fine season, in which he won AFL All-Australian selection as the team's centre half-back. He also won the 2008 Crows Club Champion award with 162 votes and the club's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

award. Bock was charged with assaulting his partner and causing property damage during an incident at the General Havelock hotel in Adelaide early on Sunday morning 5 April 2009. He was detained by police and later released to face court at a later date. After the incident, he was suspended indefinitely by the Adelaide Football Club; this suspension was lifted after only one game, and he played a respectable role in the Crows' 48-point loss to

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

. A hamstring injury saw him miss several more weeks, but he return midway through the season and won the Showdown Medal in Round 17.

International Rules

Nathan Bock represented Australian in the

2008 International Rules Series The 2008 International Rules Series was the 14th annual International Rules Series and was played between Ireland international rules football team, Ireland and Australia international rules football team, Australia. After the 2007 series was ca ...

against Ireland. In the first test in Perth, he was selected as the goalkeeper – a position that does not exist in Australian rules football. He conceded three goals in Australia's 1-point loss. In the second test, he was switched to a more usual role of centre half back and played well. Bock was one of two Adelaide Crows players selected for the Australian squad, along with Scott Thompson.

Gold Coast career

On 17 August 2010, Bock announced that he will leave Adelaide and join the new Gold Coast Suns team that joined the competition in 2011. He was the first current AFL player to announce that he was joining the new team. Bock retired in 2014 after injuries took a toll which included a badly broken leg in 2012.

Statistics

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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;", , 44 , , 18 , , 8 , , 9 , , 114 , , 50 , , 164 , , 57 , , 11 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 6.3 , , 2.8 , , 9.1 , , 3.2 , , 0.6 , - ! 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;", , 44 , , 16 , , 3 , , 2 , , 156 , , 63 , , 219 , , 55 , , 23 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 9.8 , , 3.9 , , 13.7 , , 3.4 , , 1.4 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 44 , , 7 , , 11 , , 7 , , 87 , , 15 , , 102 , , 51 , , 13 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 12.4 , , 2.1 , , 14.6 , , 7.3 , , 1.9 , - ! 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;", , 44 , , 22 , , 29 , , 20 , , 237 , , 79 , , 316 , , 136 , , 29 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 10.8 , , 3.6 , , 14.4 , , 6.2 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 44 , , 23 , , 2 , , 5 , , 335 , , 160 , , 495 , , 162 , , 34 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 14.6 , , 7.0 , , 21.5 , , 7.0 , , 1.5 , - ! 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;", , 44 , , 14 , , 3 , , 1 , , 195 , , 148 , , 343 , , 101 , , 18 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 13.9 , , 10.6 , , 24.5 , , 7.2 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 44 , , 13 , , 1 , , 1 , , 157 , , 99 , , 256 , , 91 , , 21 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 12.1 , , 7.6 , , 19.7 , , 7.0 , , 1.6 , - ! 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;", , 44 , , 21 , , 2 , , 1 , , 303 , , 122 , , 425 , , 139 , , 38 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 14.4 , , 5.8 , , 20.2 , , 6.6 , , 1.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 44 , , 4 , , 2 , , 1 , , 46 , , 14 , , 60 , , 24 , , 4 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 11.5 , , 3.5 , , 15.0 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , - ! 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;", , 44 , , 2 , , 2 , , 1 , , 7 , , 4 , , 11 , , 5 , , 3 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 3.5 , , 2.0 , , 5.5 , , 2.5 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 140 ! 63 ! 48 ! 1637 ! 754 ! 2391 ! 821 ! 194 ! 0.5 ! 0.3 ! 11.7 ! 5.4 ! 17.1 ! 5.9 ! 1.4

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bock, Nathan 1983 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players Gold Coast Football Club players Woodville-West Torrens Football Club players All-Australians (AFL) Malcolm Blight Medal winners Australian rules footballers from South Australia Southport Australian Football Club players Australia international rules football team players