Samuel Lalor (, born 30 August 2006) is an

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

Richmond Football Club 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, Victoria, Ric ...

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). A powerful midfielder-forward, he was selected as the number-one pick in the

2024 AFL draft The 2024 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players during and following the completion of the 2024 AFL season. Key dates 2024 mid-season rookie draft ...

and made his debut in round 1 of the 2025 season.

Early life and junior football

Lalor was raised in the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

country town of

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh ( Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. As of the ...

, 50 kilometres north-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He is one of four children to father Steve and mother Caitlyn. Lalor played junior football with

Bacchus Marsh Football Club Bacchus Marsh Football and Netball Club is an Australian rules football and netball club, located in Bacchus Marsh in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The club's various football and netball teams compete in the Ballarat Football Leag ...

in the Ballarat Football Netball League (BFNL). He attended St Patrick's College in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

through year 10 in 2022, and played for the school's football team during that time. In 2022, at the age of 15, Lalor debuted for the

Greater Western Victoria Rebels The Greater Western Victoria Rebels is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Talent League, the statewide under-18s competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. They recruit players from the Ballarat, Wimmera and Sou ...

in the

Talent League The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

. He co-captained Vic Country in the AFL Under 16 National Championships, and was named in the tournament's All-Australian Team. In addition to football, Lalor was a highly talented junior cricketer, playing as a top order batter and specialising in limited-overs formats. He represented Victoria's Country region at the 2022/23 Under 17 National Championships and played with the Northcote Cricket Club Under 17s and for the club's fourth division team in the

Victorian Premier Cricket Victorian Premier Cricket is the highest level club cricket competition in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams (firsts through to fourths) of adult players and usually play ...

competition that same summer. Lalor had previously played extensive first XI cricket with Bacchus Marsh in the Gisborne & District Cricket Association, including scoring a century in January 2022 at age 15. He quit cricket to focus on football mid-way through 2023. In 2023 Lalor moved schools, taking up a sporting scholarship to board at

Geelong Grammar School Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay. Establ ...

, where he played for the school's cricket and football teams in the Associated Public Schools competitions. Despite being a year younger than most of his teammates, Lalor was that year selected to represent Vic Country at the 2023 AFL Under 18 Championships, where he played two matches. During that year he hyperextended his knee, an injury which lasted into the early months of the 2024 junior football season. Lalor spent a week with the in the summer of 2023/24, as part of the AFL Academy Program. Lalor was appointed the Rebels Talent League captain in 2024, but managed just four matches with side due to a range of injuries including to his hip, quad and ankle. A further injury, to his left hamstring injury ensured he missed his side's losing Talent League grand final against the

Sandringham Dragons Sandringham Dragons 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 the Moorabbin Oval in Moorabbin, Victoria, representin ...

. Lalor kicked three goals in each of Vic Country's final two matches of the 2024 AFL Under 18 Championships.

AFL career

Lalor was selected by with the first overall pick in the

. In a pre-season practice match against in mid-February 2025, Lalor suffered a fractured jaw in a marking contest collision. He was unable to play in Richmond's practice march against as a result. Lalor made his AFL debut in round 1 of the 2025 season, recording 18 disposals and kicking two goals in front of a crowd of 80,009 people at the MCG in a 13-point victory over . The effort earned Lalor a rising star nomination for round 1.

Player profile

Lalor plays as a midfielder and forward. He is notable for his strength and handballing skills from stoppage and for his one-on-one contest strength as a forward. As a junior, his playing style was compared to those of Jordan De Goey and

Christian Petracca Christian Petracca ( ; born 4 January 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, tall and weighing , Petracca has the ability to play dual- ...

Personal life

Lalor's grandfather Ray Lalor played six games for in

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, while the family also has relation to John O'Neill, who played 136 games for . His father Steve, played for

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

in the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

(OMFL) during the 1980s. Lalor's cousin, Jordan Petaia, is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who represented Australia at the

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 ...

and

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

s, while another cousin, Jack Lalor, played with the

Victoria cricket team The Victoria cricket team is an Australian first-class cricket, first-class men's cricket team based in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. The men’s team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria (Austral ...

's second XI in 2022 and has been a member of the

Melbourne Renegades Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club based in Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competit ...

Academy program.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lalor, Sam Living people 2006 births Greater Western Victoria Rebels players Richmond Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) People educated at Geelong Grammar School People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian people of Irish descent People from Bacchus Marsh