Alex Neal-Bullen (born 9 January 1996) is a professional

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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, tall and weighing , Neal-Bullen plays primarily as a half-forward. He played top-level football early when he played senior football for the Glenelg Football Club in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) at eighteen years of age, in addition to representing South Australia at the

2014 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2014 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships was the 19th edition of the AFL Under 18 Championships. Eight teams competed in the championships: Vic Metro, Vic Country, South Australia and Western Australia in Division 1, and New South Wales/Australian ...

. He was recruited by the Melbourne Football Club with the fortieth selection in the

2014 AFL draft The 2014 AFL draft consists of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2014 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed ...

and he made his AFL debut during the 2015 season.

Early life

Neal-Bullen was born into a sporting family, where his grandma, Cheryl Neal, became the first female

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

in history to win a race in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

against men, achieved in 1979. Her career ended prematurely after a fall which left her in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for eight months and

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural ...

from the waist down; his grandmother's disability was one of the reasons behind Neal-Bullen deciding to study education and disability at

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

during 2014. Neal-Bullen played his junior career with Mitchell Park Football Club and the Glenelg Football Club and played nine games with the

(SANFL) senior team in 2014. He attended Sacred Heart College in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He achieved state selection for South Australia in the

and played in the winning grand final against Vic Metro, whilst also being named in the best players for the match. His performances in the championships, where he was the leading clearance winner, and his performances in the SANFL led to him being regarded as an in-and-under player who made an impact on games. In addition, his athletic background placed him in the elite bracket of endurance runners and raised his prospects to being drafted inside the top twenty-five.

AFL career

Neal-Bullen was recruited by the

with their third selection and the fortieth overall in the 2014 national draft. After a delayed start to the 2015 season through knee injuries, he made his debut in round eleven against at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

. He kicked his first goal the following week in the twenty-four point victory against at

Simonds Stadium Kardinia Park (also known as GMHBA Stadium due to naming rights) is a sporting and entertainment venue located within Kardinia Park, South Geelong, in the Australian state of Victoria. The stadium, which is owned and operated by the Kardinia P ...

and finished the match with three goals. After his debut, he missed only one match for the remainder of the season and managed eleven games overall with a total of six goals; furthermore, Melbourne football operations manager, Josh Mahoney, noted Neal-Bullen had "adapted really quickly to the demands of being an AFL player" which saw him extend his contract until the end of 2017, despite being in contract for the 2016 season. The 2016 season saw Neal-Bullen spend the majority of the season playing in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) for Melbourne's affiliate team, the

Casey Scorpions The Casey Football Club, nicknamed the "Demons" and formerly the "Scorpions", is an Australian rules football club based in Cranbourne East, Victoria. The club, which was known until 2005 as the Springvale Football Club and the Casey Scorpions ( ...

. He played his first senior match for the season in the sixty-three point win against the at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

in round nine. He maintained his spot the next week for the match against , before being omitted for the round eleven match against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was recalled to the senior side for the six point loss against at Subiaco Oval in round eighteen and was dropped the next week before playing his final match of the season in the twenty-point loss against at the

in round twenty-two, managing just four matches in his second year. Despite failing to maintain a spot in the senior side, he had strong form in the VFL, which saw him play in seventeen matches, and he was named in the best players twelve times. His performances saw him finish as the runner-up in Casey'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 ...

count, behind captain and former player, Jack Hutchins, and a fifth-place finish in the

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football Association). It is named after J.J. Liston, a businessman, civic leader and sports administrato ...

– awarded to the best and fairest player in the VFL – with thirteen votes.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 8, 2024''. , - ,

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 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 events, COVID- ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

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2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

, , , , 30 , 8 , , 5 , , 4 , , 71 , , 72 , , 143 , , 20 , , 35 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 8.9 , , 9.0 , , 17.9 , , 2.5 , , 4.4 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 161 !! 112 !! 84 !! 1411 !! 1074 !! 2485 !! 466 !! 687 !! 0.7 !! 0.5 !! 8.8 !! 6.7 !! 15.4 !! 2.9 !! 4.3 !! 3 Notes

Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

* McClelland Trophy ():

References

External links

* * *
Alex Neal-Bullen profile
from Demonwiki {{DEFAULTSORT:Neal-Bullen, Alex 1996 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players Casey Demons players Glenelg Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia People educated at Sacred Heart College, Adelaide Melbourne Football Club premiership players VFL/AFL premiership players