Sam Flanders (born 24 July 2001) is a 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 plays for the

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. 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).

Early life

Flanders was born in

Fish Creek, Victoria Fish Creek is a small dairy farming community in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It sits in between the Boon wurrung and Gunai/Kurnai Indigenous regions. At the 2016 census, Fish Creek and the surrounding area had a population of 827. It was na ...

. He grew up playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

at high junior levels. He attended Foster Secondary College, before moving to Lowanna College to be part of their selective

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

academy.

AFL career

Flanders was drafted by the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

with the eleventh pick in the

2019 AFL draft The 2019 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2019 AFL season. Key dates Mid-season rookie draft The first mid ...

. He made his AFL debut in round 11 of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th 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

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

Metricon Stadium Carrara Stadium (also known as People First Stadium under naming rights) is a stadium on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara, Queensland, Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for A ...

. In 2023, he signed a four-year contract extension that ties him to the Suns until at least the end of 2027.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of 2024'' , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 26 , 5 , , 2 , , 1 , , 17 , , 14 , , 31 , , 4 , , 14 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 3.4 , , 2.8 , , 6.2 , , 0.8 , , 2.8 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 26 , 16 , , 4 , , 5 , , 96 , , 93 , , 189 , , 46 , , 62 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 6.0 , , 5.8 , , 11.8 , , 2.9 , , 3.9 , , 0 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 26 , 9 , , 3 , , 1 , , 51 , , 46 , , 97 , , 22 , , 19 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 5.6 , , 5.1 , , 10.8 , , 2.4 , , 2.1 , , 0 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 3 , 14 , , 5 , , 3 , , 179 , , 160 , , 339 , , 75 , , 35 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 12.8 , , 11.4 , , 24.2 , , 5.4 , , 2.5 , , 1 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 3 , 22 , , 11 , , 5 , , 380 , , 300 , , 680 , , 122 , , 180 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 17.3 , , 13.6 , , 30.9 , , 5.5 , , 2.3 , , , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 66 !! 25 !! 15 !! 723 !! 613 !! 1336 !! 269 !! 180 !! 0.4 !! 0.2 !! 11.0 !! 9.3 !! 20.2 !! 4.1 !! 2.7 !! 1 Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flanders, Sam 2001 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Gold Coast Football Club players Gippsland Power players