Joel Macdonald will become the 31st Queenslander to play 100 AFL games tonight.
Friday, 27 May, 2011
Joel Macdonald will become the 31st Queenslander to play 100 AFL games tonight.
The 26-year-old utility defender will post his century for Melbourne against Carlton at the MCG.
It is an enormous milestone for a player who started his AFL career with the Brisbane Lions as a rookie.
Macdonald was taken as a Queensland Zone selection in the 2003 AFL Rookie Draft, and debuted with the Lions in Round 10 2004.
He played 80 games with the Lions from 2004-09, including 22 games in what turned out to be his final season, before he was overlooked at selection for the club’s finals campaign in coach Michael Voss’ first year at the helm.
Subsequently offered for trade, nothing eventuated during the trade period while Macdonald was overseas but he was snapped up by the Demons with selection No.1 in the 2010 Pre-Season Draft.
He played 17 games with the Demons last year and will chalk up his third game of 2011 tonight to reach 100.
Macdonald, originally from Victoria, represented Victoria at U12 level in the same team as Troy Selwood.
He moved to Queensland with his family in 1999 and quickly made an impact with the Aspley juniors, gaining selecting in the state U16 team and sharing the team’s best player medal with fellow 2004 Lions rookie and current Morningside (NEAFL) captain Paul Shelton.
He moved to Brisbane’s western suburbs and joined his closest State League club, which at that stage was Mt Gravatt.
He was selected in the AIS AFL Academy intake in 2000 alongside the likes the Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge, Collingwood premiership player Luke Ball, St.Kilda ace Nick Dal Santo, and fellow Queenslander David Hale, now at Hawthorn after playing at North Melbourne.
He represented Australia against Ireland in the U17 International Rules series, and was a member of the Lions Reserves side that won the 2001 QAFL State League premiership.
Macdonald joins a Queensland 100 Club headed by 300-gamers Jason Akermanis (325) and Marcus Ashcroft (318).
The full list is:-
Jason Akermanis – Brisbane – W/Bulldogs – 325
Marcus Ashcroft – Brisbane – 318
Michael Voss – Brisbane – 289
Jason Dunstall – Hawthorn – 269
Gavin Crosisca – Collingwood – 246
Mal Michael – Coll / Bris / Ess – 238
Max Hudghton – St.Kilda – 234
Nick Riewoldt – St.Kilda – 205
Scott McIvor – Fitzroy / Brisbane – 200
Matthew Kennedy – Brisbane – 188
Mitch Hahn – W/Bulldogs – 181
Brett Voss – Brisbane / St.Kilda – 170
Clint Bizzell – Geelong / Melbourne – 163
Che Cockatoo-Collins – Essendon / Port Adel – 160
Stephen Lawrence – Hawthorn – 146
Robert Copeland – Brisbane – 143
Michael Osborne – Hawthorn – 141
Dean McRae – Nth Melb / Sydney – 141
Clark Keating – Brisbane – 139
Brad Miller – Melbourne – 138
David Hale – Nth Melb / Haw – 135
Jamie Charman – Brisbane – 129
Ben Hudson – Adelaide / W-Bulldogs – 133
Warren Jones – Carlton / St.Kilda – 123
Steven Lawrence – Brisbane / St.Kilda – 120
Daniel Pratt – Brisbane / Nth Melb – 116
Frank Dunell – Essendon / Brisbane – 115
Richard Murrie – Foots / Geel / Rich – 111
Daniel Merrett – Brisbane Lions – 111
Ray Smith – Essendon / Melbourne – 104
Joel Macdonald – Brisbane / Melbourne – 99
