Scott West (born 14 November 1974) is a former

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 represented 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). Having won a club-record seven

Charlie Sutton Medal The Charles Sutton Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged best and fairest for the Western Bulldogs throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League season. The medal is named a ...

s, West is recognised as one of the Bulldogs' greatest-ever players. A tough "in-and-under" midfielder who was hard at the ball, especially around the stoppages, West was regularly among the league's most prolific ballwinners during his playing career.

Early career

One of three brothers, West grew up in the northwestern Melbourne suburb of

Keilor Keilor () is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hume local government areas. Keilor recorded a population of 5,906 at the 2021 census. ...

a keen supporter. Ironically, his childhood neighbour and future Essendon footballer Rick Olarenshaw was a Footscray supporter. His older brother Troy initially trained at Essendon until told the West family residence actually belonged to Footscray's recruiting zone. Troy would go on to have a fine career with

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA) club Williamstown. The third brother, Brent, is Scott's twin. West was educated at

Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School (abbreviated as PEGS) is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Comprehensive School#Australia, comprehensive Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school ...

(PEGS), whom he represented in football with the

Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria The Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria (AGSV) is a sporting association of nine independent schools in Victoria, Australia, formed in 1920. The AGSV provides interschool sporting competitions between the nine member schools in a range of sp ...

(AGSV) First XVIII in 1991 and 1992 along with

Shane Crawford Shane Barry Crawford (born 9 September 1974) is a former Australian rules football player, television media personality and author. He played 305 senior games for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). During his A ...

and future teammate Paul Dimattina. West also played for Strathmore and was subsequently recruited by (now Western Bulldogs), making his senior debut in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. He won an

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 that season. In 1993 and 1994 West wore the number 14 guernsey, before changing to his famous number 7 in the wake of

Doug Hawkins Douglas James Hawkins (born 5 May 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also enjoyed a brief career in media and ran for the Senate, as a member of Palmer United Party, in ...

' departure to Fitzroy in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

AFL career

After Footscray rebranded itself the Western Bulldogs during the tumultuous 1996 season, the Bulldogs rebounded dramatically in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, falling agonizingly short of their first Grand Final appearance since 1961 when the eventual premiers came from behind to win the Preliminary Final by two points. West's contribution in the club's amazing turnaround was recognised when he won the second of what would be seven

s. He made

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 ...

selection on five occasions – in 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005 and 2006. West's best and fairest victory in 2005 saw him overtake Gary Dempsey's previous record of six. Late in 2006 West had been described as being in the best form of his career despite him being 32 years of age and completing his 300th game. This run of form included an incredible career best 45 disposals in one match 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 ...

. In the 2006 season, West became the first player on record (recorded since 1987) to amass more than 400 handpasses in a season, finishing with 423. West finished runner-up in the

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 ...

count twice: in 2000 and in 2006; in the former year, he was particularly unlucky: going into the final round, he was level with 's

Shane Woewodin Shane Woewodin (born 12 July 1976) is a retired Australian rules football player who played 200 games with the Melbourne and Collingwood Football Clubs. He was the recipient of the Brownlow Medal in 2000. Early career Born to Ukrainian paren ...

on 22 votes. Having had only 17 disposals and being interchanged for majority of the final quarter, Woewodin wasn't considered a chance to poll against West Coast, however Woewodin polled two votes to win the medal with 24 votes. In 2006, he won the Sunday Footy Show's Lou Richards award for best player as voted by Channel 9's football commentators. He was the crowd favourite to win the

in 2006, due to his string of close misses and secondly, because he was one of the few Victoria-based players with a high chance of winning the award, during a period when non-Victorian teams were dominating the league. West ended up finishing second in 2006 behind

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

. West and Rohan Smith played their 300th games in the Bulldogs' semi-final loss to at Domain Stadium on 16 September 2006. To date, they are the only pair of teammates to share their 300th AFL game in the same match. On 23 September 2008, his career came to an end after the Bulldogs said he was no longer required at the club.

Post-playing career

West is a qualified landscape gardener and has run a landscaping business since 1997. From 2009 to 2011, West served as a midfield coach at , earning praise for his teaching ability. In 2012 he became the coach of the

Werribee Football Club The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-base ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). His stint was short but reasonably successful, leading Werribee to consecutive Preliminary Finals before quitting after the 2013 season in the hope of landing a coaching role in the AFL. In October 2014, West was among the candidates considered to replace

Brendan McCartney Brendan McCartney (born 23 October 1960) is the former senior coach of the Western Bulldogs football club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He coached 66 games in 3 seasons before he resigned from the job. He has served as the development ...

as senior coach of the Bulldogs, but the position eventually was given to

Luke Beveridge Luke Beveridge (born 23 August 1970) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who played for Melbourne, Footscray and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He is senior coach of the Western Bulldogs ...

. West has also been working as a football commentator on radio for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

(ABC).

Honours

In early 2002, West was named in the Western Bulldogs Team of the Century. The Scott West Award, awarded to the Western Bulldogs' most courageous player during a season, was named in his honour. In 2013 West was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

. In March 2017, West was chosen as one of the club icons to unfurl the Bulldogs' premiership flag.

Career statistics

, - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 17 , , 21 , , 15 , , 170 , , 119 , , 289 , , 36 , , 35 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 10.0 , , 7.0 , , 17.0 , , 2.1 , , 2.1 , , 8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 23 , , 9 , , 11 , , 338 , , 155 , , 493 , , 51 , , 38 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 14.7 , , 6.7 , , 21.4 , , 2.2 , , 1.7 , , 2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 23, , 6 , , 13 , , 365 , , 182 , , 547 , , 46 , , 45 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 15.9 , , 7.9 , , 23.8 , , 2.0 , , 2.0 , , 9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 15 , , 0 , , 4 , , 137 , , 128 , , 265 , , 21 , , 23 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 9.1 , , 8.5 , , 17.7 , , 1.4 , , 1.5 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 5 , , 3 , , 367 , , 240 , , 607 , , 58 , , 57 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 15.3 , , 10.0 , , 25.3 , , 2.4 , , 2.4 , , 5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 5 , , 3 , , 309 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 301^† , , 610 , , 40 , , 67 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 12.9 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 12.5^† , , 25.4 , , 1.7 , , 2.8 , , 23 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 21 , , 11 , , 5 , , 244 , , 268 , , 512 , , 47 , , 40 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 11.6 , , 12.8 , , 24.4 , , 2.2 , , 1.9 , , 14 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 23 , , 7 , , 5 , , 331 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 326^† , , 657 , , 80 , , 51 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 14.4 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 14.2^† , , 28.6 , , 3.5 , , 2.2 , , 22 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 11 , , 4 , , 283 , , 298 , , 581 , , 72 , , 59 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 12.9 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 13.5^† , , 26.4 , , 3.3 , , 2.7 , , 8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 18 , , 8 , , 8 , , 222 , , 249 , , 471 , , 61 , , 57 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 12.3 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 13.8^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 26.2^† , , 3.4 , , 3.2 , , 8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 3 , , 6 , , 277 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 343^† , , 620 , , 107 , , 67 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 12.6 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 15.6^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 28.2^† , , 4.9 , , 3.0 , , 4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 7 , , 10 , , 278 , , 314 , , 592 , , 104 , , 80 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 12.6 , , 14.3 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 26.9^† , , 4.7 , , 3.6 , , 20 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 4 , , 7 , , 267 , , 370 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 637^† , , 91 , , 61 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 12.1 , , 16.8 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 29.0^† , , 4.1 , , 2.8 , , 17 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 24 , , 6 , , 5 , , 285 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 423^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 708^† , , 119 , , 77 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 11.9 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 17.6^§ , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 29.5^† , , 5.0 , , 3.2 , , 23 , - 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;", , 7 , , 20 , , 1 , , 6 , , 211 , , 329 , , 540 , , 110 , , 82 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 16.5^† , , 27.0 , , 5.5 , , 4.1 , , 8 , - ! 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;", , 7 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 45 , , 48 , , 93 , , 14 , , 14 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 11.3 , , 12.0 , , 23.3 , , 3.5 , , 3.5 , , 3 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 324 ! 104 ! 105 ! 4129 ! 4093 ! 8222 ! 1057 ! 853 ! 0.3 ! 0.3 ! 12.7 ! 12.6 ! 25.4 ! 3.3 ! 2.6 ! 175

Other

West has made several appearances on the

AFL Footy Show ''The Footy Show'' was an Australian sports and variety entertainment television program which aired on the Nine Network. The show was dedicated to the Australian Football League (AFL) and Australian rules football. The show featured a panel ...

and appeared on a

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

ad with

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 ...

's David Neitz. West was married to Leshelle and has four sons: Rhylee (born 2000, Kobi, Cooper and Levi (born 2008).West married Linda on 23/11/19. Rhylee was drafted by the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in 2018 as a father-son selection.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Scott 1974 births Western Bulldogs players All-Australians (AFL) Charles Sutton Medal winners Living people Australian rules footballers from South Australia Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Victorian State of Origin players Strathmore Football Club players Werribee Football Club coaches Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australia international rules football team players People educated at Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School People from Keilor, Victoria Australian twins