Tom Atkins (born 18 September 1995) 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 playing for 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). An inside midfielder with goalkicking ability, he spent his early career with Geelong's

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) affiliate. After being overlooked in two AFL drafts, he was selected by Geelong with pick 11 in the 2019 rookie draft and made his debut in the opening round of the 2019 season.

Early career

Atkins began playing in the VFL with Geelong in 2014. He spent his first year on the club's development list before playing VFL matches under the 23rd-player rule (which permitted teams to be expanded to allow players recently listed with a TAC Cup club to play with its VFL affiliate). In 2015, Atkins played for St Joseph's in the

Geelong Football League The Geelong Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is widely regarded as the highest-standard Australian rules football league in regional Victoria, with sever ...

, assisting in their first premiership victory since 1989. In the VFL, he played only ten games from 2014 to 2015, but became an important inside midfielder for Geelong in 2016 after others left the club or were injured. Atkins kicked 15 goals and averaged eight

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

, 18 disposals and four clearances per match, winning Geelong's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

with 389 votes. He was also named in the VFL team of the year in the forward pocket and was considered by ''

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'' one of 15 VFL prospects likely to be selected in the

2016 AFL draft The 2016 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2016 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowe ...

. Atkins' strong season attracted interest from interstate clubs but he stayed with Geelong. In 2017, Atkins was Geelong's co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and became a permanent midfielder, but his season was interrupted by a

hamstring injury Straining of the hamstring, also known as a pulled hamstring, is defined as an excessive stretch or tear of muscle fibers and related tissues. Hamstring injuries are common in athletes participating in many sports. Track and field athletes are p ...

causing him to miss six games. When uninjured he was still regularly named among Geelong's best and in round 18 laid 23 tackles against Collingwood, including 12 in the last quarter – the equal-most in a VFL match and the equal-second-most recorded by Champion Data in any competition. Atkins also kicked two goals and amassed 25 disposals to perform

best on ground Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

. He was again named, this time by ''

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'', as a strong mature-age player likely to be drafted. Atkins again missed out on selection in the 2017 draft, but was encouraged by Geelong's head of football Simon Lloyd to continue pushing for an AFL career. He was named Geelong's sole VFL captain and played every game in the 2018 season, with career-high averages of 21.8 disposals and 9.4 tackles. Atkins was among the VFL's top ten players in score assists, handballs, contested possessions, clearances and hard ball gets. He led the competition in tackles, recording 188, and captained the VFL team of the year as a rover. Atkins won his second Geelong best and fairest with 413 votes. He was named by ''

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'' as among the best mature-age players ahead of the 2018 draft.

AFL career

Atkins was selected by Geelong with pick 11 in the 2019 AFL rookie draft and cited as "another graduate of the Geelong VFL production line" alongside other AFL-listed players such as Tom Stewart, Scott Thompson and

Shane Mumford Shane Mumford (born 5 July 1986) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who most recently played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has also previously played for the Geelong Football ...

. He anticipated playing primarily as a small forward rather than an inside midfielder as he had done in the VFL, due to Geelong's abundance of high-quality midfielders. Atkins made his debut in the opening round of the 2019 season against at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground 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 Lis ...

. During his first two seasons, Atkins was most used as a pressure forward by Geelong coach Chris Scott, switching to defence during the

2021 AFL season The 2021 AFL season was the 125th 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 feature ...

. He would take an opportunity to move into the Geelong midfield during the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th 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 ...

, with his tenacity and pressure often setting the tone for his teammates to follow. Atkins would play a key role in Geelong's

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 ...

success, with the club winning the

2022 AFL Grand Final The 2022 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between Geelong Football Club, Geelong and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2022. It was the 127th AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Aust ...

. Atkins would finish fifth in the club's

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. Fo ...

count, winning the Tom Harley Award as best clubman for 2022. Atkins followed up 2022 with a strong season in

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 ...

. He finished second to Tom Stewart in the 2023 Carji Greeves Medal count, and won the Tom Harley Award for best clubman for the second consecutive year.

Statistics

''Updated to round 1 of the 2024 season''.Tom Atkins' player profile at AFL Tables
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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

* 2×

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

():

Individual * Geelong F.C. Tom Harley Award for Best Clubman: 2022, 2023 *2× Geelong F.C. VFL Best & Fairest: 2016, 2018

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Tom Living people 1995 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club premiership players People educated at Geelong College VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century Australian sportsmen