Tom Papley (born 13 July 1996) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Football Club 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 was drafted with pick 14 in the 2016 rookie draft.

AFL career

Papley made his AFL debut in round 1 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 ...

against the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

, kicking three goals. He earned the Rising Star nomination for round 5 following an impressive display against the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

in which he kicked two goals, earned 20 possessions, had six inside-50s and took eight marks in a match played in wet weather. Arguably his best season was in 2019, impressing many after the absence of

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 ...

when he tied in 14th for goalkickers, with 37 goals. He kicked 4 goals against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

and 5 goals against the

, proving to be two of his best performances. But throughout the year, Papley had a desire to return home back to Victoria despite being contracted to the Swans until 2023 and was heavily linked to both Carlton and North Melbourne. During the trade period, he requested a trade to Carlton, but Papley wasn't given his wish as the trade didn't go through. Papley was selected to play for Victoria in the State of Origin Bushfire Relief game, where he kicked 5 goals. Papley played all 17 games of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th 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 ...

, kicking 26 goals and leading the Swans' goalkicking tally for the second year in a row. His standout performance came against Hawthorn in Round 8, kicking 4 goals and sparking Sydney to a 7-point victory. Papley rose to new heights in 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 ...

, with a career-high 41 goals. This included four-goal performances against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, GWS and

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

, and the match-winning goal against

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

in round 7. Papley was rewarded with his first ever

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 ...

jumper in the 2021 All-Australian team, confirming his status as one of the competition's premier small forwards. Papley missed the first six rounds of the 2022 season due to a preseason hamstring injury he suffered in a practice match with GWS. Despite the late start to the season he was awarded with being a member of the All-Australian Squad in 2022.

Personal life

Papley has a gambling related podcast called ''The Early Crow''. Papley grew up in

Bunyip The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Name The origin of the word ''bunyip'' has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia ...

and attended Marist Sion College in

Warragul Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...

. He left school after year 11 to take up a

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

apprenticeship.

Family

His grandfathers, Jeff Bray and Max Papley, were teammates with the

South Melbourne Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reserv ...

from 1964 to 1966, before the team's move to Sydney. Tom Papley wore number 41 for his first two seasons, but following the retirement of Jeremy Laidler after the 2017 season Papley was able to take on number 11, the number Max Papley wore for 45 of his 59 matches with the South Melbourne Swans. Two of Papley's cousins, Ben Ross and Michael Ross, have also recently played in the AFL.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 11 , 20 , , 24 , , 23 , , 169 , , 104 , , 273 , , 65 , , 58 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 8.4 , , 5.2 , , 13.7 , , 3.2 , , 2.9 , , 0 , - ,

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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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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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 ...

, , , , 11 , 23 , , 43 , , 27 , , 230 , , 83 , , 313 , , 89 , , 34 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , , 10.0 , , 3.6 , , 13.6 , , 3.9 , , 1.5 , , 4 , - ,

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 ...

, , , , 11 , 19 , , 32 , , 26 , , 203 , , 87 , , 290 , , 79 , , 37 , , 1.7 , , 1.4 , , 10.7 , , 4.6 , , 15.3 , , 4.2 , , 1.9 , , 5 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 141 !! 221 !! 165 !! 1325 !! 646 !! 1971 !! 520 !! 378 !! 1.6 !! 1.2 !! 9.4 !! 4.6 !! 14.0 !! 3.7 !! 2.7 !! 19

Honours and achievements

Team * 2x

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

():

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 ...

Individual *

All-Australian team 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 ...

* 2× Sydney leading goalkicker: 2019, 2020 * Victoria representative honours in

State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match The State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match was a one-off all-star game between two representative sides organised by the Australian Football League to raise funds for recovery efforts following the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season. The ...

: 2020 * 22under22 team: 2017 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2016 (round 5)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papley, Tom Living people 1996 births Gippsland Power players Sydney Swans players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) All-Australians (AFL) 21st-century Australian sportsmen