Samuel Gilbert (born 19 August 1986) 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL).

Early life

Gilbert is a rugby league convert who didn’t start playing AFL until he was 16 years old. He began at Tweed Coolangatta JAFC before switching to Southport to play in the AFLQ State League. Gilbert had a rugby league background, spending his junior days playing for the

Bilambil Jets The Gold Coast Rugby League (also known as the Kevin Bycroft Cup) is a rugby league football competition based in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is under the administration of the Queensland Rugby League through the South East Queensland ...

in the Group 18 Rugby League on the New South Wales Northern Coast. His grandfather (

Jack Gilbert Jack Gilbert (February 18, 1925 – November 13, 2012) was an American poet. Gilbert was acquainted with Jack Spicer and Allen Ginsberg, both prominent figureheads of the Beat Movement, but is not considered a Beat Poet; he described himself as ...

) and great grandfather (

Herb Gilbert Herbert R. Gilbert (18 September 1888 – 5 January 1972) was an Australian rugby league and rugby union player – a dual-code international. He represented the Wallabies in three Tests in 1910 and the Kangaroos in seven Tests from 1911 to 19 ...

) played for St. George Dragons in the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership. Herb was also a

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

who captained

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at rugby league. Gilbert moved to the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

at the age of 14, where he switched to Australian Rules at the Coolangatta-Tweed Blues, before moving to

Southport, Queensland Southport is a coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Southport had a population of 31,908 people. It contains the Gold Coast central business district. Geography Sout ...

. He attracted the eye of talent scouts after impressing at Southport Sharks and in the

Queensland Scorpions AFL Queensland (AFLQ) is the governing body of Australian rules football in Queensland. AFL Queensland has over 216,000 participants (including Northern Rivers which is governed by AFLQ) playing at all levels of football from the introductory N ...

Representative Side. He attended

Palm Beach Currumbin High School Palm Beach Currumbin State High School (PBC High School or PBC) is an independent co-educational public school (government funded), in the Gold Coast suburb of Currumbin, Queensland, Australia. PBC is Queensland's southernmost coastal High sch ...

throughout his teenage years. Gilbert is a cousin of former NBL basketball player,

Larry Davidson Larry Davidson (born 19 January 1983) is an Australian former professional basketball player who played 12 seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL). Junior career A scholarship-holder at the Australian Institute of Sport, Davidson led ...

AFL career

2006 season

Gilbert was selected by the Saints with pick No.33 in the

2005 AFL Draft The 2005 AFL draft was the 2005 event of the AFL draft, the annual draft of players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League. The 2005 draft consisted of a pre-seas ...

. He made his debut for St Kilda in Round 8, 2006 against

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

. Gilbert played only one further match in 2006, failing to make a big impact. His rugby background has led to his physical approach and strong sidestepping and tackling ability.

2007 season

The 2007 season brought further opportunities for Gilbert and he was included for the Round 5 match against Port Adelaide Power, after improved form in St Kilda's

VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

affiliated team, the Casey Scorpions. Setting the pattern for his team mates, Gilbert laid seven tackles. He held his spot in the side and improved under coach Ross Lyon, playing every game for the rest of the year. Gilbert was drafted as a key defender, but his agility and speed has allowed him to play through the midfield and up forward.

2008 season

Gilbert played in St Kilda’s

2008 NAB Cup The 2008 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League pre-season competition played in its entirety before the Australian Football League's 2008 season began. It culminated with the Grand Final played on 8 March 2008 at AAMI Stadium in which St ...

winning side - the club's third pre-season cup win. After a statistically strong performance in Round 16, in which Gilbert had 16 kicks, 12 marks and 6 handballs, he was awarded the AFL Rising Star Nomination for that round.

2009 season

Gilbert played in 19 of 22 matches in the 2009 home and away rounds. St Kilda qualified in first position for the 2009 finals series, winning the club’s third minor premiership. St Kilda qualified for

2009 AFL Grand Final The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual grand final of the Aust ...

after qualifying and preliminary finals wins. Gilbert played in the grand final in which St Kilda were defeated by 12 points.

2010 season

Gilbert played in 26 games in 2010, including four finals matches, and finished 3rd in St Kilda's Best & Fairest Award (Trevor Barker Medal). As of the end of the 2010 season, Gilbert had played in 10 AFL finals matches including a grand final

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Sam 1986 births Living people Australian rules footballers from New South Wales St Kilda Football Club players Southport Australian Football Club players People from Tweed Heads, New South Wales Sandringham Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Queensland Australia international rules football team players