Thomas Donald Barrass (born 8 October 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 who plays for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

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). He has played as a key defender since his junior career with

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Town of Claremont, Perth * Claremont Airbase, an ...

. Barrass was drafted by West Coast with pick 43 of the 2013 national draft, but did not make his senior debut until round 17 of the

2015 AFL season The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

. He was nominated for the

2016 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. An AFL Rising Star#Eligibility and nominations, eligible player is no ...

and won a premiership with West Coast in 2018.

Early life

Barrass is the son of late journalist Tony Barrass. He grew up in the

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

suburb of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and played fo
Scarborough Junior Football Club
After the club was unable to field an under-17 team due to a lack of players, he focussed on playing for his school Hale. Barrass underwent a

growth spurt Human height or stature is the distance from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head in a human body, standing erect. It is measured using a stadiometer, in centimetres when using the metric system or SI system, or feet and inches when u ...

and was recruited by his zoned

Western Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL) club

. He suffered two injuries which restricted him to three games for Claremont's colts (under-19s) in 2012. Barrass rebounded to captain Claremont in their 2013 colts premiership. He recorded 18 disposals in Claremont's six-point grand final victory over South Fremantle, and believed he was close to lining up for the senior side before dislocating his finger. Barrass played for Western Australia in the 2013 AFL Under 18 Championships, where he was mentored by fellow backman and then-West Coast captain

Darren Glass Darren Glass (born 14 May 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer who played as a full-back for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from Northam, Western Australia, he attended Carine Senior High S ...

. He recorded an

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) for all domestic students, or the ATAR-based Combined Rank (CR) for all International Baccalaureate (IB) students,

above 98 and contemplated attending university to study

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

AFL career

Barrass was drafted by West Coast with pick 43 of the 2013 national draft, their third selection. On arrival at the club he expressed interest in eventually filling a leadership position. In January, prior to the

2014 AFL season The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

, Barrass underwent an

arthroscopy Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the j ...

to repair a torn hip joint, ruling him out of training for three months. He returned in April to play his first game for

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

reserves (West Coast's WAFL affiliate). Playing slightly over half the match, Barrass amassed 17 possessions. He played a further seven reserves games for the year. Barrass made his WAFL senior debut against

Peel Thunder The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The ...

in round 5 of the 2015 season, recording nine

mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

s. Gavin Bell, West Coast's Head of Development, was impressed with Barrass's performance and noted his marking and ball use as standouts. Teammate Josh Hill likened him to fellow defender

Jeremy McGovern Jeremy Ronald McGovern (born 15 April 1992) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a tall key-position player who spent most of his career as a defender, altho ...

for his intercept marking and ability to "read" the play, a comparison later echoed by teammate Mark LeCras. In July, coach

Adam Simpson Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam si ...

said Barrass was ready to play at AFL level, but noted the backline was "pretty settled" and it would be hard for the defender to claim a spot. After McGovern hurt his left hamstring against , Barrass replaced him in the senior side against in round 17 of the

. On debut, he recorded 15 disposals and five marks. Simpson was happy with Barrass's performance, saying "it's good to get exposure in such a big game", and noted the side's scarcity of key defenders after

Will Schofield William John Schofield (born 24 January 1989) is an Australian rules footballer who formerly played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). At tall and weighing , he is a versatile defender who has played key-positi ...

injured his calf. Fellow backman

Xavier Ellis Xavier John Ellis (born 28 February 1988) is a media personality and former professional Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club and West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League. Over 125 senior matche ...

praised his efforts to play on dual Brownlow medallist

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 ...

. Barrass played two more matches to end the year; round 18 versus and round 22 against . Barrass missed the first half of the

2016 AFL season The 2016 AFL season was the 120th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

but replaced Eric Mackenzie in round 12 after the defender fell ill. In July he was named as one of West Coast's key players under 23 by

AFL.com.au AFL Media is an Australian sports media company operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) to provide coverage of the league and the sport of Australian rules football. History Established in 2012, AFL Media provides content to AFL.com.au ...

journalist Alex Malcolm. He retained his spot for the majority of the second half of the season, culminating in a

nomination after a twenty-nine point win against Adelaide in round 23. Barrass recorded seventeen disposals at 94.1% efficiency, ten

spoil Spoil or spoils may refer to: * Spoils, the proceeds of looting taken from an enemy or victim * Overburden, or spoil, the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation * Spoil, material removed by earthworks * Spoi ...

s and ten marks, six of them interceptions. He polled one Brownlow vote for the performance. Barrass said he had been galvanised by his previous match against Adelaide in 2015, when he had been outplayed by their forwards. He went on to play in his first

AFL finals series The Australian Football League finals series, more generally known as the AFL finals, and known from 1897 until 1989 as the Victorian Football League finals series or VFL finals, is a playoff tournament held at the end of each AFL season to det ...

, but only managed an elimination final after West Coast were knocked out by the . Barrass had eleven disposals and took six marks; his performance was rated a 6 out of 10 by AFL.com.au journalist David Reed, who noted he improved after a slow start on Tom Boyd and took several crucial marks. Post-season, Barrass won West Coast's Rookie of the Year award. Ahead of the

2017 AFL season The 2017 AFL season was the 121st 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 ...

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

journalists Riley Beveridge and Ben Waterworth named Barrass 'the rising star' at West Coast and a 'lock' in their defence. He returned to pre-season training in improved condition after feeling 'pretty fat' near the conclusion of the 2016 season. Barrass signed a contract extension prior to the

2017 JLT Community Series The 2017 AFL season was the 121st 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 ...

, tying him to West Coast until the end of 2019. During pre-season training, Barrass fell awkwardly after a marking contest and was dazed for roughly a minute, but returned later in the week on a lighter program. After missing round 1, he played the next eight rounds of the season before being demoted to the WAFL after a poor performance against . Barrass returned against in round 13 and played the remaining games of the season, including the elimination and semi-finals. Tom Barrass1

Barrass played on Sydney forward

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 to 2013 and the Sydn ...

in round 1 of the

2018 AFL season The 2018 AFL season was the 122nd 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 ...

and conceded three

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

s in the opening term. West Coast captain

Shannon Hurn Shannon William Hurn (born 4 September 1987) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). From South Australia, he excelled at both cricket and football at junior level, a ...

was confident Barrass was not shaken by the experience. In June, during West Coast's round 12 bye, Barrass injured his back while using a

dustpan A dustpan, the small version of which is also known as a "hearth brush and shovel” (from its use of cleaning the fireplace hearth), is a cleaning utensil. The dustpan is commonly used in combination with a broom or long brush. The small dustpa ...

and missed the next six rounds. He returned for West Coast's finals campaign and played on

Mason Cox Mason Cox (born March 14, 1991) is an American-Australian professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Austr ...

in the qualifying final. Cox did not score and was restricted to four kicks and two marks. In the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

, Barrass again played on Cox; the match-up was named one of three key match-ups for the grand final by

Terry Wallace Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...

prior to the game. Barrass outplayed Cox to half-time, restricting him to just one possession. However, Cox improved in the second half and finished with seven marks and two goals, while Barrass recorded ten marks and 17 disposals. Barrass signed a contract extension until the end of 2022 after the grand final. He was ranked as 'elite' (in the top ten percent of defenders) by Champion Data ahead of the

2019 AFL season The 2019 AFL season was the 123rd 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 ...

. Barrass kicked the first goal of his AFL career in the first round of the 2022 season, his 100th game. Following the

2024 AFL season The 2024 AFL season was the 128th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 7 March to 28 September, comprising ...

, Barrass requested a trade to Hawthorn. He was officially traded on 16 October, the last day of trade period.

Statistics

''Correct to the end of round 21, 2025''. , - ,

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

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2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

Individual *

John Worsfold Medal The John Worsfold Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the West Coast Eagles throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) season. Sixt ...

: 2022 * AFL Rising Star nominee:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrass, Tom 1995 births Living people People educated at Hale School VFL/AFL premiership players West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Hawthorn Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Claremont Football Club players East Perth Football Club players West Coast Eagles (WAFL) players