Oliver Dempsey (born 7 January 2003) 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

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 ...

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). Geelong selected Dempsey with pick 15 in the 2022 rookie draft. Dempsey made his AFL debut in round 6 of the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th 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 ...

against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

. He won the

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

award in 2024.

Junior career

Originally playing point-guard in basketball which he represented his state in, Dempsey was scouted by the Cats while playing school football with Melbourne's

Carey Baptist Grammar School Carey Baptist Grammar School, commonly known as Carey, is an private school, independent, co-educational, Baptists, Baptist day school in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The school has five campuses: Kew, Victoria, Kew (ELC to Year ...

during his final year of school in 2021. In his younger years he played community football for Hawthorn Citizens and Boroondara Hawks in the

Yarra Junior Football League The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is the largest junior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The league has a total of 30 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne. There is ...

AFL career

Dempsey made his debut in round 6 of the

. In 2023, Dempsey played five senior AFL games and kicked one goal. In round 1 of the

2024 AFL season The 2024 AFL season was the 128th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 7 March to 28 September, comprising ...

Dempsey received a nomination for the Rising Star Award. He was named the winner of the

in August 2024.

References

External links

* * * 2003 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Geelong Football Club players People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School 21st-century Australian sportsmen AFL Rising Star winners {{AFL-bio-2000s-stub