Robert Gray (born 30 March 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

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 with the 55th overall selection in the 2006 national draft. Gray is often considered to be amongst Port Adelaide's greatest ever players.

Early life

The son of Robert Snr and Sue, Robbie Gray spent his early years with his two older sisters and parents in

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...

. They moved to

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

when Robbie turned 10. He was educated Doncaster Secondary College and Box Hill Senior Secondary College. Gray impressed in 2006 with TAC Cup club

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the Talent League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the ...

, kicking 56 goals. He also played for the Victoria Metro's under 18 side, in a team composed of fellow AFL draftees Bachar Houli,

Matthew Kreuzer Matthew Kreuzer (born 13 May 1989) is a retired professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was selected first overall pick in the 2007 AFL Draft. He announced hi ...

, Tom Hawkins and David Mackay. Despite this, Gray was not seen as a fancied draft option, due to his unfashionable style of play. His chances took a hit when he missed a draft camp due to injury. He did, however, attract interest from Port Adelaide after impressing their recruiters. Head recruiter at the time, Mick Moylan was impressed with his off-field discipline, with Gray maintaining an 8 and a half-hour job. Subsequently, Gray was picked by Port Adelaide in the 2006 draft who used their fourth pick, becoming the 55th pick overall.

AFL career

After showing strong form in the

SANFL 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. ...

with West Adelaide, Gray was given his AFL debut, along with fellow draftee Justin Westhoff. Gray contributed with 13 disposals and 4 marks and 2 behinds. In Round 12 of the 2007 Season, he kicked 4 goals in a match against Essendon, in which Port Adelaide won by 31 points. He received the round 12

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 ...

nomination for his efforts. During these games Robbie Gray consolidated his place in the Power line up until a calf injury relapse against the

Richmond Tigers The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, the club comp ...

at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the el ...

kept Gray out. Gray started the 2008 pre-season strongly, suggesting he was over chronic soft tissue injuries and ready to have a larger impact. Fellow team-mate Brett Ebert said "Robbie's great. He's stronger and fitter than ever before and we saw last year just how clever he is in front of goals. Robbie's worked hard over the summer and if he can stay fit, I think he'll be in for a big year." Soft tissue injuries have restricted Gray to forward roles, though he is hoping to play more of a midfield role in the future. He also signed a new contract for Port Adelaide, which will keep him at the club until 2010. Gray missed the start of the season through injury and only received his first senior game for the year in round 7, after showing good form for West Adelaide. Gray played all matches until round 14, before injuring his ankle at training, with his best performance being a 20 possession and 12 mark game against Hawthorn. He also impressed in Ports hefty Round 16 loss to Geelong after being moved into the midfield. He returned for two matches late in the 2008 season and played a pivotal role in Port Adelaide's surprise defeat of North Melbourne, by scoring 3 goals. Gray had an outstanding year for Port Adelaide, despite the club having a difficult year. He was Port's most valuable player according to an AFL poll, proving he is a fan favourite. He was also rated by the club's staff, who awarded him the 2009 most improved award, to go with his 4th placing in the

John Cahill Medal The John Cahill Medal, named after the Port Adelaide Football Club's ten time premiership coach and inaugural AFL coach John Cahill, is awarded to the club player adjudged best and fairest for the season. The voting system as of the 2017 AFL se ...

. Gray kicked 30 goals in 2009, as well as 23 goal assists - top 6 in the AFL. He also received 6

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

votes, despite never polling previously. His standout performance of the year was against Hawthorn, where he kicked 4 goals in a tight win to the Power, earning 3 Brownlow votes for his efforts. In Round 6 2010, Gray won the

Showdown Medal The Showdown Medal is the medal awarded to the player adjudged best on ground in the Showdown (AFL), Showdown Australian Football League, AFL match between Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide and Port Adelaide Football Club, Port Adelaide. It is t ...

for a five-goal effort against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. He finished the 2011 season on 32 goals, making him the leading goalkicker, a goal ahead of

Jay Schulz Jay Schulz (born 18 April 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League from 2010 to 2016. A high marking forward, he previously played for Richmond ...

. In Round 4, 2012, Gray hyper extended his knee in the dying seconds of the game against Collingwood, requiring a

knee reconstruction Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL reconstruction) is a surgical tissue graft replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament, located in the knee, to restore its function after an injury. The torn ligament can either be removed from ...

and missing the remainder of the season. At the start of 2013 Gray decided to change his number from 17 to 9. The number 9 was his junior number. He also wanted to start again after his knee reconstruction. Gray had his breakout season in 2014, averaging 25 possessions and six clearances a match, while also kicking 42 goals and leading the league in goal assists. He polled votes in 18 of 22 games to win the AFL Coaches' Association (AFLCA) Champion player award and was named in the 2014 All-Australian team, as well as winning his first

. Gray backed up his break out 2014 campaign with another outstanding season in 2015. He averaged 26 disposals, almost 8 clearances and more than a goal a game. In one of his best games for 2015, he won his second Showdown Medal in the first Showdown against the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

. At season's end, he was selected in the

All-Australian team 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 ...

for the second consecutive year as well as winning his second consecutive

. In 2016, Grey was awarded the Merv Agars Medal as the best performed South Australian based AFL player. In October 2017, Port Adelaide FC released the news that Gray had been diagnosed with testicular cancer after the end of their finals campaign. Gray returned to pre-season training late in 2017 and played the entire 2018 AFL season. In Showdown 44, Gray kicked six goals, 5 of them were in the third quarter. He eventually won the Showdown Medal as being the best player on the ground. He is currently Port Adelaide's 2nd leading AFL goalkicker, behind

Warren Tredrea Warren Gary Tredrea (born 24 December 1978) is a former Australian Rules Footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and former Weekday Sports Presenter on ''Nine News Adelaide''. Since his retireme ...

. Gray played game 250 in 2021 against the Gold Coast Suns, but injured his ankle in the same game. As a result, Gray would miss 6 weeks of the season. Persistent knee niggles kept Gray to only 16 games in the 2022 season. He announced his retirement on 16 August 2022, and would fittingly play his retirement game in Showdown LII.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2022 season''Robbie Gray's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 17 , , 5 , , 7 , , 6 , , 33 , , 19 , , 52 , , 18 , , 7 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 6.6 , , 3.8 , , 10.4 , , 3.6 , , 1.4 , - ! 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;", , 17 , , 10 , , 15 , , 12 , , 76 , , 55 , , 131 , , 52 , , 12 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 7.6 , , 5.5 , , 13.1 , , 5.2 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! 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;", , 17 , , 20 , , 30 , , 19 , , 157 , , 166 , , 323 , , 77 , , 62 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 7.9 , , 8.3 , , 16.2 , , 3.9 , , 3.1 , - ! 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;", , 17 , , 11 , , 18 , , 12 , , 81 , , 79 , , 160 , , 34 , , 36 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , 7.4 , , 7.2 , , 14.5 , , 3.1 , , 3.3 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 17 , , 22 , , 32 , , 14 , , 216 , , 179 , , 395 , , 81 , , 85 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 9.8 , , 8.1 , , 18.0 , , 3.7 , , 3.9 , - ! 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;", , 17 , , 2 , , 2 , , 4 , , 13 , , 16 , , 29 , , 6 , , 9 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 6.5 , , 8.0 , , 14.5 , , 3.0 , , 4.5 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 20 , , 15 , , 15 , , 187 , , 150 , , 337 , , 62 , , 72 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 9.4 , , 7.5 , , 16.9 , , 3.1 , , 3.6 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 25 , , 42 , , 33 , , 302 , , 320 , , 622 , , 97 , , 69 , , 1.7 , , 1.3 , , 12.1 , , 12.8 , , 24.9 , , 3.9 , , 2.8 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 21 , , 25 , , 12 , , 252 , , 300 , , 552 , , 60 , , 91 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 12.0 , , 14.3 , , 26.3 , , 2.9 , , 4.3 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 19 , , 25 , , 16 , , 237 , , 262 , , 499 , , 51 , , 91 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 11.3 , , 12.5 , , 23.8 , , 2.4 , , 4.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 23 , , 47 , , 29 , , 232 , , 204 , , 436 , , 99 , , 58 , , 2.2 , , 1.4 , , 11.0 , , 9.7 , , 20.8 , , 4.7 , , 2.8 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 21 , , 36 , , 18 , , 193 , , 246 , , 439 , , 74 , , 67 , , 1.7 , , 0.9 , , 9.2 , , 11.7 , , 20.9 , , 3.5 , , 3.2 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 19 , , 24 , , 14 , , 189 , , 232 , , 421 , , 71 , , 42 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 9.9 , , 12.2 , , 22.2 , , 3.7 , , 2.2 , - ! 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 19 , , 15 , , 7 , , 127 , , 188 , , 315 , , 40 , , 56 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 6.7 , , 9.9 , , 16.6 , , 2.1 , , 2.9 , - 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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 18 , , 20 , , 8 , , 157 , , 161 , , 318 , , 67 , , 48 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 8.8 , , 8.9 , , 17.7 , , 3.7 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 9 , , 16 , , 14 , , 7 , , 96 , , 131 , , 227 , , 48 , , 42 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 6.0 , , 8.2 , , 14.2 , , 3.0 , , 2.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 271 ! 367 ! 226 ! 2548 ! 2708 ! 5256 ! 937 ! 847 ! 1.4 ! 0.8 ! 9.4 ! 10.0 ! 19.4 ! 3.5 ! 3.1 Notes

Honours and achievements

Individual *

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 ...

*AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Award: 2014 *

: 2010 (Round 6), 2015 (Round 5), 2018 (Round 8), 2018 (Round 20), 2019 (Round 16) * Australian Representative Honours in

International Rules Football International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

: 2011, 2014, 2015 * Port Adelaide F.C. Leading Club Goalkicker Award: 2011, 2018 * Port Adelaide F.C. Most Improved Player Award: 2009 * Peter Badcoe VC Medal: 2017 * AFL Rising Star Nominee: 2007 (Round 12)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Robbie 1988 births Living people Port Adelaide Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) Australian rules footballers from Melbourne West Adelaide Football Club players Oakleigh Chargers players All-Australians (AFL) John Cahill Medal winners Australia international rules football team players People from Blackburn, Victoria