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BRAD MORAN

AFL Footballer - Adelaide Crows

At a Glance

From: England via Gold Coast
Born: 29 September 1986
Height: 200cm
Weight: 103kg

Key Statistics:

Recruited From: Southport
Draft Details: Selection #58 2004 AFL national draft; traded to the Adelaide Crows for selection #37 in the 2007 AFL national draft
AFL Debut: Rd 21, 2006 v Hawthorn, Launceston, (26 August 2006).
AFL Games: 17
AFL Finals: 1
AFL Goals: 7
Career Best Goals: 4 v Carlton, AAMI Stadium, Rd 18, 2008.

Statistics to end of 2009 season

Snapshot

An athletic ruckman/key utility player who is one of the great stories of the AFL ... a English-born super-athlete who is the son of a former professional soccer player who emigrated with his family to Australia in October 2001 to pursue a career in rugby union and inside five years, was playing in the AFL. And all that after having never played AFL football until June 2003. Spent 2005-06-07 with the Kangaroos before being traded to the Adelaide Crows ahead of the 2007 AFL national draft.

Season 2009 - At a Glance

Played with the senior side through the pre-season but when the season proper began he found himself in the SANFL. After string of outstanding performances he was elevated to the AFL side in Round 7 for his first AFL game since the 2008 finals.

Season 2008 - At a Glance

Enjoyed an incident-free preparation after transferring from the Kangaroos, impressing Crows officials with his work ethic, and for the second time in his career followed in Wayne Carey's footsteps and had an eye-catching first outing for his second club in the NAB Cup opener against Collingwood in Dubai, where he impressed in defence and in the ruck. Held his spot in the Crows side right through to the NAB Cup grand final but suffered a badly broken finger in an SANFL practice match the weekend before the start of the AFL premiership that required surgery and sidelined him for six weeks. Returned in the SANFL on the Anzac Day weekend (AFL Round 6), collecting 19 possessions in the ruck and at centre half back to rank among Wests Adelaide's best, but strained his hamstring the following week. After three games back with West Adelaide he was finally selected for his Crows debut in Round 16 for Showdown XXV against Port Adelaide. Was originally dropped for Round 17 but won a late call-up and did well in defence (17 possessions, 9 marks) in a breakthrough win over Sydney. Then found himself an unlikely goal-kicking hero against Carlton in Round 18, kicking the first four goals of his fledgling career. Held his spot until he was surprisingly omitted in Round 22, but won back his spot for the Crows' only final against Collingwood.

Season 2007 in Review

Was twice named in the Kangaroos side in round 1 and round 8 but both times was a late withdrawal, and was a senior emergency in rounds 4-5-11-14-15 without getting a chance to pick up where he left off at the end of the 2006 season. Had been a most consistent performer with the Tasmanian side (right) playing in the VFL under Daryn Cresswell and finally got his chance in round 19 against premiers West Coast at Telstra Dome, when the came off the bench to play as a tall defender in the second half, collecting seven possessions. Was back to his all-too-familiar role as an emergency in round 20 and didn't get a look in during the finals. Was traded to the Adelaide Crows for selection No.37 ahead of the 2007 AFL national draft and is looking to consolidate a position at centre half back.

Background

Born in Solihull, England, and raised in Stratford on Avon, he is the youngest of three children to Martyn and Jan Moran. His father played soccer at Aston Villa to the age of 15 until his professional career was cut short by injury. But according to family legend, England was becoming "too dangerous, and the weather and culture was depressing". So they packed up and looked for a new home. They chose Australia specifically so that Brad, a junior representative soccer player before earning selection in the English Under 14 rugby Academy, might pursue a career in rugby.

He was enrolled in Year 10 at The Southport School, a prestigious secondary school on the Gold Coast which counts among its recent old boys triple Brisbane Lions AFL premiership ruckman Clark Keating and dual rugby league / rugby union international Mat Rogers.

There he excelled first in basketball as a member of the school's First V in Year 10. Thereafter it was rowing. In 2002, his second year at the school and his first full year, he was in the First VIII and was judged Best Oarsman in a crew which finished seventh at the 2003 Australian titles and set a national Under 18 record for 6km.

But a significant change in his sporting landscape had occurred earlier when, as he explains, he had a falling out at school after the rowing season and chose not to play school rugby. Instead, on the casual advice of a friend, he took up football at Surfers Paradise. And that he did for the first time in June 2003. In the same year, his first season, he was runner-up in the Surfers Paradise Under 18 best & fairest despite missing the first eight games of the season and was best afield for a Zane Taylor Development Squad in a match against the Geelong Falcons.

Mark Browning, former Sydney Swans champion turned AFL Queensland Talent Manager, swooped on the enormously athletic Moran under the AFLQ Rookie Search Program . He was 200cm tall, could run and jump, and had outstanding general athleticism and hand-eye co-ordination. So, he invited him to join the State Under 18 squad in 2004 while completing his Year 12 studies in English, Maths B, Physics, Economics, Legal Studies and HPE.

But it was no easy path. Moran missed six weeks of the Queensland Scorpions preparations for the national championships with a broken wrist after playing two games at the State Under 18 carnival with the same injury.

He didn't enjoy a lot of game time at the 2004 national championships but was chosen to represent Queensland at Under 21 level thereafter and made his senior AFL Queensland debut for Southport under Norm Dare, a former Brisbane Bears senior AFL coach and long-time assistant-coach at North Melbourne and Geelong. After narrowly missing senior selection for the AFLQ grand final he was best afield in the reserves grand final.

At the AFL draft camp he posted a time of 2.78seconds for the 20m sprint to break the record which had stood to the credit of ex-Fremante flyer Steven Koops since 1995. For a player 200cm tall it was an extraordinary feat.

That was enough for the Kangaroos. They took a punt on the raw but promising teenager and selected him at No.58 in the 2004 AFL national draft. He had originally been earmarked by the Brisbane Lions, who were keen to take him in the second round. But when Cameron Wood, tipped by many to be a top 10 choice, was still available at the end of the first-round the Lions decided they couldn't overlook the West Adelaide giant. There was no need for another ruckman at the Gabba.

It was all to the benefit of the Kangaroos. And not only did they draft the confident English teenager but they allocated him the No.18 jumper worn previously by Wayne Carey, dual premiership captain, captain of the North Melbourne Team of the Century, and arguably the greatest AFL player of all time.

It was something of an inspired choice. Because initially Moran, without a background in AFL football, was blissfully unaware at first of the significance of the Carey factor. And after it became apparent to him what an extraordinary honour the club had paid him by making him the first player to wear the No.18 jumper after "The King" he set about making sure he would earn it. It even made big news in the local paper back in England. Click here.

Moran spent the entire 2005 season with Port Melbourne, the Kangaroos VFL affiliate, alternating between the seniors and reserves and finishing third in the reserves best & fairest. In 2006, when the Roos alliance changed to take in the Hobart-based Tassie Mariners, he played there. Until the penultimate game of the year.

In round 21 Moran was chosen for his AFL debut against Hawthorn in Launceston. Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley at the time likened the rise of the then 19-year-old to the AFL's Irish experiment in which the likes of Melbourne Brownlow Medalliat Jim Stynes and Sydney premiership defender Tadhg Kennelly had crossed from Gaelic Football to the AFL.

"It is a wonderful story," said Laidley. "You see him and he's a bit of physical specimen - he's 200cm and 100-odd kilos and he's very, very quick, so he's got all of those attributes, but he's still learning his footy. He'll probably play around about half a game or a little bit more (on debut) and we're just excited to see where he's at in his football development. He's probably only played 40 games of footy in his life and Norm Dare said if we could get 40 or 50 games into this guy, you might have something there," Laidley said. "Right now he's got a game purely on his competitive spirit and hardness and his willing to compete. The other part of it, there's a helluva lot still to work on and as long as he plays within his boundaries he'll be fine."

Moran did more than that. Much more. He had 21 possessions, 10 marks and 10 hit-outs in a 22-point loss which earned him the round 21 nomination for the AFL s coveted NAB Rising Star Award.

He followed up with another solid performance in the round 22 loss to Collingwood and so finished his second season in the AFL family far, far advanced from anything he could possibly have dreamed off when he and his family headed Down Under just five years earlier.

The extra opportunities Moran was looking for didn't come his way in 2007. He was named in the senior side in Round 1 and Round 8 but was a late withdrawal both times - a selection 'blind' - and was an emergency in Rounds 4-5-11-14-15-20. His only senior appearance came against West Coast at Telstra Dome in Round 19 when he came off the bench to play as a tall defender. Otherwise, he played with the Tasmanian side, wooden-spooners in the VFL under Daryn Cresswell, mainly at centre half back.

He was offered a new one-year contract with the Kangaroos and nothing more from a club wanting to continue their developmental investment in the ex-Englishman yet 'keep him on the edge' at the same time.

So, when the chance of a fresh start came via the Adelaide Crows he jumped at it, signing a new two-year deal and accepting a challenge from Crows coach Neil Craig and recruiting manager Matt Rendell to make the key defensive post at centre half back his own.

 Brad Moran - AFL Statistics

 Year

Games

Goals 

 2006

2

0

 2007

1

0

2008

7

6

2009

 7

1

Total

 17

7

Brad Moran News File

 


 

 

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